Coming Home
by EirlysLavellan
Summary: [Kai/OC] AU: When Kai notices something strange with the bit beasts of a younger generation of bladers as well as his own, Kai must find a way to get to the bottom of it and quickly, however, being thrust into a new adventure was the last thing the age old champion was expecting, least of all to find someone who would shatter the walls he surrounded himself with. First in Series.
1. Prelude

_~Coming Home~ ©EirlysLavellan  
~Beyblade~ ©Takao Aoki_

 **oOo**

 **Summary:** Kai Hiwatari has inherited Hiwatari Enterprises and has redesigned the whole company from its once dark holdings to a company that promotes the BBA and the well being of all bladers around the globe. But when he notices something strange with the bit beasts of a younger generation of bladers as well as his own, Kai must find a way to get to the bottom of it and quickly. Enlisting the help of his old teammate, Ray Kon, the two men find themselves in London, England to meet someone who could possibly help them, however, being thrust into a new adventure was the last thing the age old champion was expecting and least of all to find someone who would shatter the walls he surrounded himself with.

 **Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own Beyblade that right belongs strictly to Takao Aoki. I do, however, own any unrecognizable characters and the plot line. Also as a disclaimer – I drew inspiration from movies/games/stories such as _Indiana Jones_ , _Lara Croft: Tomb Raider_ and _Uncharted_ all rights reserved to each creator/writer of these original plots. Any historical references were researched extensively by myself and bent for flexibility to fit the outlines of this story when necessary as this is a work of fiction.

 **Story Type:** AU, OC-insert

 **Main Pairing:** Kai/OC

 **Other Pairings:** Tyson/Hilary, Ray/OC, Kenny/Emily, Max/Miriam

 **Rating:** T-M

 **Author's Note:** Hello and welcome to _Coming Home_! This has been my small little love child since early summer of 2016 and I'm super stoked to finally begin publishing it here because it's been eating away at my hard drive as I've been working on it. Just so you all know, this will be a small series – I've already begun outlining a sequel – so this won't just be a standalone fic. _Coming Home_ is this series title so why not make it the title of the story no? Anyway below I'll update you all on how old each character is, just so you get an idea about how long it's been since we last saw these characters as this takes place long after G-REV (season 3 for you youngin's who maybe aren't as familiar with the original series). Anyway, I know this prologue is a bit unsatisfying, but I wanted to keep the good stuff for the next chapter ;) I hope you enjoy and remember reviews are absolutely encouraged, lovely and appreciated, but not necessarily mandatory for an update…but let me know what you think!

* * *

 **Beyblade characters**

Kai: age 30  
Ray: age 29  
**for reference only – Tyson: age 28 and Max: age 27**

 **Original characters**

Mykie: age 27  
Alsoomse: age 31  
Sullivan: age 58  
Ginny: age 18

* * *

 **Coming Home  
Prelude**

Leaning against the side of the wall, her chest heaved as her lungs expanded in an effort to push more oxygen into the organs. She pulled at her loose henley and wiped her forehead with her bandaged hand – soiled with dirt and blood from where she had cut herself in her effort to run. Her once neat and tidied hair fell around her face in loose and unruly strands that stuck to her dirt smudged and sweat slicked flesh. Dark circles formed under her eyes, though the purple and red bruising of her right eye stood out against her tanned skin. She knew she could not run forever, but in this instance she knew she had no other choice.

Surrender was not an option.

Exhaling sharply through her nose in order to pull more air into her quickly expanding lungs, she set her eyes in determination and pushed aside her aches and pains as they would do her no good here. Gun in hand she drew herself from the wall before slowly making her way around the corner, being careful to keep herself as silent as possible and in a desperate attempt not to be caught. These people were trained killers and there was always an element of apprehension that spread throughout her veins whenever such persons were involved. What had started out as nothing more than a quest for answers was now a fight for her very life. Turning another corner, she released a slow exhale in an effort to quell her nerves, leading with her gun and praying to several deities to spare her.

A shout drew her attention to the area she had just come from and with eyes wide in terror she set back off in her vigorous sprint in a desperate attempt to flee. Quickly, she lost track of where she was and looking behind her she smirked in triumph for losing her pursuers, but as she turned another corner she ran into a solid source and as quickly as she turned she found the air dispelling itself from her lungs and her body sprawled on the ground before a group of grinning men.

"Hello, Princess…"

Before she could attempt to regain her lost ground, the man swung the rifle in his hand and slammed the butt end of the AK-47 into her temple, causing her already sprawled form to crumble as she succumbed to darkness once more.


	2. Chapter 1

_~Coming Home~ ©EirlysLavellan  
~Beyblade~ ©Takao Aoki_

* * *

 **Coming Home  
01: Trouble in Paradise**

Kai Hiwatari paced in front of the large windows that decorated his office, something he had always been hesitant with given the many attempts on his life in the last few years, but it had been something that Mr. Dickinson had said complemented the theme of upper chairman. The young man rolled his eyes slightly at the thought before refocusing his attention to his pacing, his mind buzzing with ways to truly comprehend the email that sat open on his computer screen.

After the Bladebreakers had broken up, Kai had gone to reclaim his grandfather's company in a legal suit that landed him with not only the company itself, but its stocks and the large income that his parents had seemingly left for him before they passed away – or so he was led to believe. The others had gone on to finish schooling or to move to other ends of the world and eventually start families of their own; many of those pictures sat in more than one frame on his desk. Kai was truly happy, especially after taking the company over and shutting down any and all Biovolt Abbeys left in the world and returning any lost child to their families or taking those who were orphaned into an exclusive school meant to fully educate them in basic core studies as well as areas of interest – it was the least he could do given what his grandfather had done to them all.

Running a hand down the side of his face, Kai turned his desk chair and sat down heavily, his garnet eyes staring at the screen and trying to find a joke in the words written there. It was a moment before the phone in his office began to ring and he scowled deeply at it. He considered letting it go to his secretary, but a quick glance at the clock told him that Margo would have left by then and he allowed another sigh to fall from his lips before he snatched the phone from its holdings.

"Hiwatari Enterprises, Kai speaking."

" _You sound so weirdly formal_." The voice of one of his friends came from the other line and a faint smirk touched his lips.

"You always know what to say, Ray…"

" _Yeah, thank me for it later – did you get my email?_ "

The Russian sighed deeply, "Unfortunately."

" _I don't know what's going on…Even Hiro is concerned – I mean, this one kid that I've been teaching personally and had complete control of his bit beast suddenly lost control and almost killed,_ _ **KILLED**_ _Driger! How is that even possible!? I mean can they even do that?_ "

Ray, out of all the Bladebreakers, had become a close friend to the Russian as both Max and Tyson had gotten married and each had two kids – the black-haired Neko-jin had remained single and had flown out to America to run the Facility for Young Bladers that had a partnership with both the BBA and Hiwatari Enterprises. To hear the younger man concerned was no surprise to Kai, but the slightly desperate note to the man's normally controlled tenor set him on edge.

"No…I've never heard of bit beasts doing that."

Ray snorted, " _Yeah because that one time with Brooklyn didn't count._ "

"No, his bit beast was trying to kill _me_ and failed." The Russian frowned, "Regardless it's concerning. Did you let Mr. Dickinson know?"

" _Yeah, but I knew you'd still be at the office._ " Ray answered with what the Russian knew was a cheeky grin, " _Speaking of, does it always take you that long to answer your phone? I mean these international calls aren't cheap._ "

Kai rolled his eyes, "No one asked you to call, Ray."

" _And_ there's _the Kai we all know and love._ " There was a slight pause on the other line and a woman's voice in the background that had a brow arching on Kai's forehead. " _Sorry about that, Elena is a new hire here and was bringing me a video clip of the match today._ _I'm actually going to be sending it to you in a few moments…maybe you could make head or tail out of it. I would ask Max or Tyson, but you know how long it takes them to get back and even then you're a workaholic so it just works out._ "

"Ray, you're rambling."

" _Yeah, sorry…long day._ " The man sighed, " _So how's things been? I know the last time we talked you said you were thinking of relocating…_ "

Kai nodded even know he knew the other man couldn't see it. "Yeah, Tala will be taking over the main part of the business."

" _Lookin' to get your hands dirty again, Kai? Not that that's surprising or anything – you've always been more into hands on work – but what would you be doing?_ "

"Not sure yet, but it looks like I'm going to be doing more than a little getting my hands dirty."

" _What do you mean?_ "

"Your video came through…"

" _Huh, would you look at that…I didn't even see if it finished downloading…Hey wait, did you notice the way that his –!_ "

Kai frowned as he rewound the video and replayed it, "What's this bit's name?"

" _Uh…Juggernaut if I'm not mistaken._ "

"It's supposed to be an earth-based bit right?"

" _Yeah, but Kai…!_ "

"Then why is it using elements unrelated to it's purpose…?"

" _Wait what?_ "

"This bit is actually changing it's properties and attacks to completely counter Driger…"

Ray grunted from the other side of the line, " _But that's not possible…it never has been._ "

"I'm gonna need more information if I'm gonna find out what's going on," Kai frowned as he ignored Ray's protests from the other line. "Look, it's either I find out what the hell is going on or you lose Driger to another freak accident like this." When Ray fell silent, the Russian sighed deeply, "Look, I'll see if I can find anything out from Dranzer…in the meantime if you have any contacts that would know anything about bit beasts or their history or anything, let me know."

" _Well, as reassuring as that is Kai, I'm already one step ahead of you._ " Kai's brow shot up as a small smirk quirked at his lips. Ray always had been rather cheeky and his tenacity truly showed as he got older, " _Before you went off on one of your hero tangents, I got in touch with Robert,_ " Kai nearly groaned out loud, " _I know, I know he's your_ favorite _person, but he has way more historical contacts than I do and he's been talking back and forth with this dude from the U.K. about bits and their historical backing – it's how he's kept his job around here honestly –_ "

"What's your point, Ray?"

" _My_ point, _Kai, is that this guy may be worth getting in touch with. See what you can find out from Dranzer and I'll get in touch with Robert to see if he can get us his name._ "

"You're not coming along for this one, you know that right?"

The Neko-jin snorted, " _Like hell I'm not. This'll be the most fun I have all year if this turns into an adventure like it did sixteen years ago._ "

"We were stopping Boris and my grandfather from taking over the world."

" _Yeah I know, but we got to race around the world and bey-battle with the best of 'em before he did. It was like Grand Theft Auto meets world-wide sports network, so it was good times._ "

Kai knew the Neko-jin was merely being sarcastic, but he couldn't help the exhausted sigh that escaped his lips at the visual,"I'm just going to pretend that you didn't say that."

" _Aw…c'mon Kai! It'll be fun_!"

After a moment Kai sighed, "Alright. Have Robert get that info and as soon as you do I'll get everything else taken care of."

" _YES! Kai you are the man…well not because you're basically paying for everything, but y'know because you're like my best friend and stuff so yeah._ "

" _Good night_ , Ray."

" _Yeah, see ya Kai!_ "

Kai sighed deeply as he hung up the phone, his eyes returning briefly to the video before he decided to encrypt it for safe keeping and putting it onto his flash drive. He knew that if it were to boil down to it, this mysterious contact that Robert had for them would probably need it. Though Kai wouldn't admit it out loud he was excited to get to talk to his bit beast again.

Turning off his computer, Kai did a once over of the office before taking out his keys and leaving for the night and nodding to the security guard as he left. The Russian was not exactly excited for the prospect of another adventure, acquiring the Hiwatari Enterprises had been adventure enough, but he couldn't deny the thrum in his veins at the idea of getting to travel once more.

~ _Two Weeks Later~_

"Now keep in mind that my contact is, how do you say, temperamental." Robert informed to the two men behind him as they walked through the streets of London, England. "Oliver vill be meeting us at the museum."

"He works in a museum?"

Kai rolled his eyes, already annoyed with the German blader and his theatrics, thankfully it was the man's calmer teammate that was meeting them and not the eccentric Scotsman, Johnny. Shaking his head, Kai sighed deeply, "Where else would someone who's a historian work, Ray?"

"You are very talkative today Kai, should I be vorried?"

"You keep talking you might."

"Alright, Kai," Ray sighed as he broke the line of sight between the two men before keeping stride with the German blader and continuing his previous conversation with him. "So he works here?"

"Ja," Robert nodded with a slightly coy look on his face that did not miss Kai's eyes, "I'm sure that my contact can offer you the information you need."

"We really do appreciate the help Robert, I know it couldn't have been easy to meet us here."

"Vell, vhen your boss is the boss it helps," He grinned as he elbowed Ray in the side earning a laugh from the Neko-jin.

"Look, I do what I can! I just appreciate you coming out here so short notice."

Robert only nodded before turning forward once more and smiling as he made eye contact with his old teammate, the Frenchman standing at the foot of the stairs of the Museum and waiting for them as the German had asked him to. "Ah, Oliver, how are you!?"

"Can't complain," He grinned, "Though I can admit I wasn't planning on hearing from you any time soon."

"Business calls no?"

Oliver smiled before nodding to both Max and Kai. "Nice to see you both again, but I'm sure our friend iz getting _froissé_."

"Right," Ray nodded, "We're following you Oli."

oOo

It was a bright and sunny day in central London, a rare sighting for the normally overcast city – the threat of rain ever present for the citizens that roamed about the busy streets whether for recreation or to make their way to and from their jobs. It was this weather that would make anyone irritable to be cooped up inside, yet this did nothing to deter employees from grudgingly making their way to their jobs with the promise of a paycheck.

The museum was quiet that day and left little for the staff to do, but dust over displays or rearrange pamphlets in an effort to make themselves look busy. The empty halls would have been eerily silent had it not been for the sounds of people mingling about outside from the opened windows and beautiful sun lighting the halls and exhibits. Heeled feet clicked loudly in the still silence and carrying their owner in a swift, yet graceful gait that accentuated the woman's long, stocking-clad legs – a purpose to the long strides only shortened by the pull of the woman's pencil skirt. She rounded the corner, her red hair swaying with the movement, before stopping near an exhibit that marked treasures that had been discovered near Nepal by the great explorer Marco Polo – her target in sight and a wide smile spread across her painted lips.

The other woman did not turn to look at her from where her hands were stuffed into the pockets of her fitted black slacks, a green blazer layered on top to add to the woman's normal unorthodox style. The white blouse she wore underneath was, in fact, not a blouse at all, but a loose tank top that she knew would land the mauve-haired woman in quite a bit of trouble with her boss as it had a rather inappropriate insignia for a work environment and especially that of a museum employee. Though, she seemed to have made up for it by wearing a pair of beige heels in order to distract from her cross of informal and formal wear.

"You know," The woman stated as she rolled her shoulders back after straightening from her previous bent position, "It truly makes me wonder why the lost city of Shambala was never found if everything else of Marco Polo's discoveries were uncovered."

The redhead shrugged, knowing that the shorter woman would not see the movement unless she was standing beside her. "Well, perhaps it's something you can look into. Surely the museum appreciates your rather… _eccentric_ outlook on the lost civilizations throughout the world."

"Ah, but what's the fun of that Ginny? No one likes a treasure hunter and especially one who is as unprofessional and mucked up as I am."

"So now you're a treasure hunter then?"

The woman shrugged, "I prefer _thrill seeker_ or _historian_ , but I suppose so."

Ginny only shook her head with a laugh before staring at the exhibit alongside of the other woman. The mauve-haired woman did not grace her with eye contact, though the redhead knew that she was expecting her to elaborate on her visit. "You're wondering why I'm here and not at the office?"

"I wouldn't say wondering so much as curious. You never come anywhere near a museum if you can help it so either you got fired, got into an argument with a co-worker, or you've quit and are now taking the liberties of visiting your lovely older sister at her job due to the wonderful weather that is, unfortunately, keeping my mind torturously stagnant."

Ginny laughed heartily at her sister's response before sighing, "I quit just about an hour ago…my boss tried to push one over on me and I made my way to the Yard to report him for harassment."

"He didn't touch you did he?"

"No…tried to, I'll grant him, but no – Hugh walked in on the whole bit and did the dirty work for me." She noticed her sister's rigid stance and sighed softly, "Look it's no big deal – D.I. Lestrade is taking care of everything now, or so I've been assured…Everything's gonna be fine."

"It better be…I'd rather like to not get into another situation where I'd have to bail you out again for attempting to dismember an offender only to find you in a hospital worse for wear."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "That was _one time_ and it was when I was in secondary school for God's sake." It was the first time during the conversation that her sister graced her with a look, her amethyst optics cutting into her brown ones, "Look Mykie, I promise, everything is fine. I filled out the restraining order and D.I. Lestrade was on his way with his Sergeant to deliver the papers to Mr. Cleary."

Mykie spared her sister another glance, one that made Ginny shift back and forth on her sharp heeled feet before sighing softly, "Just keep your eyes out…you're either going to stay with me or Debbie tonight and I don't want to hear another word of it." She stated when her sister opened her mouth to rebuke, "You're home on recess anyway, Ginny, it's not like you've got to go back to Uni. I'd much rather you stay where I know I can find you and where I won't have to be escorted by police to identify you."

Ginny sighed deeply. Though she knew her sister was being a tad bit overdramatic, she knew that her elder was right on all counts and so acquiesced silently with a small nod in acceptance.

Mykie watched her sister from the corner of her eye and sighed softly through her nose in an effort to quell the emotions that were bolting unbidden through her head. She often prided herself on not feeling things right away and being able to sort them out through logic, but in the few years that she had been on her own in London as well as her previous experiences in her teenage years, she knew that emotions were not only powerful, but necessary to adapt to her environment. Shaking her head of her thoughts she frowned slightly as softer footsteps entered the hallway just beyond and drawing her attention.

"Miss Drake," Her trimmed brow arched as she observed the man quickly: chocolate brown hair, plaid shirt tucked into khaki trousers and matching brown penny loafers, watch on his right wrist indicating that he was left handed. She knew him to be Andy Galbraith, fellow co-worker. "Ms. Hewett wants you in her office."

She nodded, "Thank you Andy, I'll be there shortly."

"Um," He hesitated, his dark eyes sweeping over her sister's tall frame shyly before returning his gaze to the shorter mauve-haired woman, "She said immediately, so…"

"Yes, I'll be there promptly, Andy, thank you."

He nodded before trotting off the way he had come and she sighed deeply to herself before turning her eyes to meet the brown of her sister's, "Sorry about that Ginny, looks like I have work I have to do."

Ginny laughed, "No problem…I'll just go to Debbie's for a while and ask if I can crash there for tonight. If she says no, which she probably will, I'll call you and catch a cabbie to your place."

"Alright," Mykie nodded, "I get off at two this afternoon, so if I don't answer my mobile send me a text."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Here," Ginny watched as her sister dug into her pockets once more and produced a key. "If I don't answer at all, take the cab to my place and let yourself in. This key is for the main door and this one is for my flat," Mykie explained as she showed the specific keys to her sister before handing them over. "I'll text you as soon as I'm on my way – make yourself at home and if you could let Luka out..."

"I'm not taking your hound on a walk – he'll be walking _me_!"

Mykie rolled her eyes, "Just take him around the block, Ginny. You don't have to bring him all the way to the park."

"Prat."

Mykie only smirked at her sister before offering the taller woman a hug and a brief kiss on the cheek before quickly stalking away, her heels clicking delicately behind her with grace. The woman was quite used to walking in heels, though she preferred her boots or trainers as she was never really one for dressing up. She had found, in her short life, that having an even heel to the ground made for a better escape when necessary – there was only so much stealth you could have in a pair of Jimmy Choos. She made her way quickly to the Director's office and knocked rigidly before entering without so much as a granting from her superior. She ignored the glare that Ms. Hewett shot her from around the frames of four men.

"Ah, it's wonderful to see that you've finally decided to grace us with your presence."

Mykie withheld the smirk that attempted to twitch at her lips, "Of course, Ms. Hewett. I apologize for my less than appropriate timing, however, Andy has made it very clear to me that you required my presence immediately and under the emphasis that it be prompt. Turns out the poor boy couldn't find me fast enough for your liking." The four men looked at her up and down and with another smile she observed them quickly; her eyes meeting those of the tallest, a deep garnet red almost purple in certain lights before blinking and returning her gaze to her superior. "Right then, I'll bring them elsewhere as I'm certain you've _so much_ to do."

A snort of a laugh was heard from the smaller man at the disguised and implied insult she had sent to her superior. It was not unknown that the two women did not get on very well, but for sake of professionalism and because Mykie was one of the best at what she did, Ms. Hewett's personal opinion mattered little. It was then the mauve-haired woman took in the two men standing before her, already knowing Oliver and Robert, effectively ignoring the withering glare that the Director was shooting her.

She did not wait for the woman's response as she turned to the men standing before the older woman's desk, "If you gentlemen would follow me." She did not look back to see if they were following her, though she knew they were as the taller one and the Chinese man were speaking in hushed voices, the cat-like man speaking more at the taller duel-toned man as opposed to it being an actual conversation.

Kai glared ahead, his eyes darting between Oliver and Robert as the two men shared matching grins. The woman who greeted them was short and petite, and he wasn't sure if she had any actual weight to her at all as she looked more like a toothpick with clothes if he were being honest, though her strides were well practiced and she held herself like a fighter would. The more and more he observed her the more he felt conflicted with himself as she looked like she hadn't done a day of honest work in her life.

The woman then gestured to a door and allowed them to pass through first before she followed and shut the door. After a moment, Ray spoke up a pleasant smile on his face as he looked at her.

"So would it be okay if I got a coffee light and sweet while we wait for…um, Michael Drake?"

The woman only circled the desk with a slightly sarcastic look on her face, her eyes remaining fixed on Kai and Ray as she pressed a button on her receiver, "Mr. Lovain, would you be so kind as to bring a coffee light and sweet to my office?"

The receiver was quiet for a moment before a man's voice replied, " _Time for that afternoon cuppa so early Mykie?_ "

"Yes, may as well bring the whole set up if you'd please and don't forget the coffee."

The man chuckled, " _Yes, ma'am_."

"Well hello there, lads, name's Mykie Drake – at your service."

Suddenly the two European bladers began to laugh drawing the eyes of all three other occupants of the room and while Mykie seemed to share their humor, Kai most certainly did not and Ray looked more embarrassed than anything else.

"You mean Michael Drake is a girl!?"

"We never said she was a he," Robert smiled as he and Oliver shared another round of laughter and earning a growl from the Russian. Seeing the quickly growing tension, Mykie waved her hand back and forth in an effort to diffuse the situation.

"Yes, that. Unfortunately can't help the name, although my name isn't Michael, but please call me Mykie, all my friends do." She shook both Kai and Ray's hands before leaning herself up against her desk, her posture casual.

Kai took the opportunity to observe her once more, noticing the heart shape of her face, the curve of her full lips and the almond shape of her striking amethyst eyes, which were lined with a darker eye pencil and flared from the corners to give her more of a cat-eye look. He briefly took note that her hair was tipped with an almost lavender-silver and matching the color of her eyes, possibly more to annoy her boss as opposed to making a full fashion statement; the fringe across her brow framing her face from where it was pulled back into a bun. She wore a chain tightly around her neck almost as if it was a choker with an opal stone centered at the base of her throat and partially hidden by the tight collar of her blazer.

"I am _so_ sorry Mykie had I known I…"

"It's really no worries, mate. I do it intentionally as it makes me seem much more legitimate as a woman in the historical business is not only uncommon, but a woman with a background in ancient and mythological studies and archeology is just plain unheard of." She smiled, "So, Robert tells me you need help on a wee caper of yours. Mind lettin' me have a look?"

Ray rubbed the side of his cheek, the flesh still bright red in his embarrassment, "Well I think it'd be best if we gave you the background before anything else."

"How much have you studied bit beasts?"

All occupants turned their eyes to the Russian who stood behind Ray almost frigidly, though the Neko-jin noted that Kai was more anxious than anything having known him so long. It was clear the duel-toned haired man was more interested in getting to the point than getting to know the woman and had no intentions to humor small talk. Mykie, observed him quickly also taking note of the slight anxiety in his posture before shrugging it off and deciding to mess with him a bit.

"Absolutely nothing, it's why I'm here in a museum sitting behind a desk observing the world around me like it's a picture book." Rolling her eyes she reached into her shirt and produced a bit chip of her own before flashing it at the men gathered, "Never made championship level, but it's been in my family a few years."

Kai seemed less than amused by her sarcasm and watched from over Ray's shoulder as the black-haired man took the bit chip from her and observed the beast sealed inside. "It's beautiful."

"Thank you, Arseni was given to me by a blader who no longer wanted him and the two of us bonded quite quickly." She smiled before turning her eyes to Kai, "So, to answer your question Mr. Hiwatari, I am quite versed with anything in relation to bit beasts as well as their origins and history. Now, what is it that you need help with?"

Kai rolled his eyes before circling her desk and gesturing to the computer, "Do you mind?" With a sarcastic bow and sweeping of her hand, the Russian made passed the younger woman and inserted the flash drive into her computer before pulling up the video of the practice battle between Ray and his younger trainee. As Kai played the video he noticed that Mykie seemed to zone in immediately to the images, her shoulder brushing his arm as she leaned closer to get a better look at the video. Taking the mouse from him, Mykie paused and replayed certain parts of the video before frowning deeply.

"I've never seen this before…what information can you give me on this bit?" She questioned as she moved away from Kai and to her book shelf, her fingers tracing the spines as she looked for something in particular.

Ray hesitated before clearing his throat, "Well, A.J's bit beast is named Juggernaut and is an earth based bit. He's normally a rather defensive player which is why I was training him in a way to use his defense as an offense when suddenly he lost control. Normally Juggernaut and A.J get along really well, but it was like he and his bit beast became desynchronized."

Kai watched as Ray spoke and the woman quickly continued skimming books, nodding to the man's tale before seemingly finding the book she was looking for as she turned and placed it on her desk before thumbing through the pages. After a few moments of awkwardly tense silence she spoke as she continued her search, "It's not often that a player and their beast become desynchronized, was there any tension leading up to the loss of control?"

"No," Ray frowned, "He actually was telling me before his session about how he had received an award at school and that he and his parents were going to be going out and celebrate. The kid's pretty honest – back when he first started coming to the FYB he had absolutely no control or synchronization with Juggernaut since he was being picked on a lot and bullied. I interviewed his parents soon after too to see if there was any tension in the home life and everything checked out."

Mykie frowned to herself, "Is it common practice for you to do that?"

"For those we suspect to come from abused or troubled backgrounds, yes. It's completely legal for us to do background checks of those who apply to our services."

The woman looked up at the duel-toned haired man and frowned deeply, "Sounds ridiculous if you ask me."

"Which is why you're not in the business."

Losing her patience, Mykie stood straight from where she leaned against her desk, her book open to the page she needed it on. "Well, I suppose not everyone can come from financially stable holdings now can they? I apologize if I'm not some professional blader turned office worker – I quite enjoy getting my hands dirty and learning about these creatures aside from what they want to tell us themselves."

Kai moved forward to meet her challenge, but Oliver stepped between the two and diffusing the situation completely, "We are here to ask for _son aide_ , it iz not wise to _se disputer_." He then turned his eyes to the seething mauve-haired woman before nodding back to the book she had open, "I'm assuming you have ze answers, _oui_?"

"Yes," She bit at the Russian before turning back to her desk. "Juggernaut is normally a relatively even balanced bit, even tending to be more on the offense than normal defensive blades, but most who receive him as their beast know this about him." She began, only pausing to allow a taller man into the room, the man bearing tea and biscuits as well as the coffee Ray had asked for at the beginning of the small meeting. With a small smile of thanks, she continued, "Now the only thing I've ever heard of that would make a normally docile and content bit beast turn would be an actual disturbance in the Bit Portal."

"Bit Portal?"

Mykie turned a deadpanned look at the duel-toned haired Russian, "Oh, you mean you've never heard of it?" After receiving a snicker from Ray and a glare from Kai, she shook her head, "The Bit Portal is not the official term for it. In actuality it doesn't really have a name, but it's the barrier that the beasts use to cross into our world to reside within the seals that bladers use when they battle each other. Normally beasts will wait until they gauge the emotional and spiritual level of a blader before crossing into that blader's chip. I'm sure all of you agree that when you first received your beasts it was at a crucial moment during a battle, yes?" When they nodded she continued, "These beasts are broken down by specialization and element this, as bladers, you already know and are completely aware of; however, the only exception to the previous are beasts that are passed down through families whether it is a taming of the beast or the beast chooses to stay within their original master or companion's blade. Most cases it's the latter, you can relax."

"You said they come through a portal?"

Mykie turned her eyes to the Neko-jin and nodded, "Yes, well depending on the dialect you use. Bit beasts were historically worshiped as gods and goddesses in certain religions and spiritual guides in others."

"When I spoke to my own bit beast, Dranzer, she mentioned something about a weakness in the field of the Western Gate."

She considered this as Robert frowned deeply, "What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know."

"Leave it to you to have the most confusing beast in the vorld."

"Shut up Robert."

"Oh death glare!"

"Ray…"

"Nah, this is hilarious."

The woman finally frowned, reaching into her desk and pulling out her own notebook and a map before flipping a few more pages in the book she already had out. Tuning out the slight argument that had formed in the middle of her office she frowned before looking up at her clock. "As much as I hate to do this to you lads, but we're going to have to take this party elsewhere."

"Why's that?"

Her eyes turned to Robert and Oliver before she returned her eyes to the shadow that had appeared at her door. "It seems as if I have another guest and I'd _hate_ to cancel on him again."

Robert and Oliver's faces fell into ones of seriousness before they nodded. "Alright zen, we'll let ourselves out and meet you back at your place." Oliver nodded to the door, Robert nodding and urging the other two bladers to follow him. Mykie pushed a bag into the Frenchman's hands containing her notebook, map and the text book she had as well as her bit chip, the man nodding in silent agreement after a long look passed between the two of them.

The exchange did not miss Kai's eyes and he frowned before allowing himself to be pushed out of the office by Oliver. Despite the information they had gotten, the questions still burned in him.

What was the weakness in the Western Gate?

* * *

So yeah, I felt bad I literally left you all with 3 paragraphs in the last chapter. I apologize for any OOC-ness...I would imagine some of their personalities would change slightly as they got older. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 1! Like I always say reviews are lovely and appreciated, but not mandatory for an update - though I'd love to hear what you guys think about the story so far ;) See you next chapter!

Much Love!  
Eirlys xoxo


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thank you for following and favoriting this story so far! It means a lot to me that some of you are truly enjoying it! And also a special thank you to my two reviewers!

 _Cutetyhil_ \- Thank you so much for taking some time out to review! I absolutely hope you continue to enjoy the plot as it's a little different than what I normally would try to tackle from a beyblade story ;) I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

 _kehkr_ \- Thank you so much for your review! Yes she absolutely does and she'll continue to have some sass to her. And yes, there will be constant back and forth between her and Kai. Some of it will definitely be immature, but I feel like Kai needs someone who will challenge him and bring out some of the childishness we should have seen from him when he was a teenager ;3. And Ray... _welllllll_ part of it gets answered here in this chapter and I'll be going into more detail later when I introduce Ray's pairing ;) Oh, please I don't mind the probing lmao. Again, thank you so much for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Again thanks so much for the support! Remember, reviews are lovely and appreciated, but they're not mandatory for me to update...even though I'd love to hear from y'all. Let me know what you guys think! Also! Keep in mind there will be times where the original cannon characters will be OOC, this is because there's been 12 to 13 years that they've matured as they're all older. Again, any historical information has been researched extensively and some has been bent for flexibility to the story! Thanks again!

P.S. Disclaimer is in the first chapter, I own no one except for the plot and my OCs

ONWARD ^-^

* * *

 **Coming Home  
02: Getting Answers**

Sullivan Roberts was used to his protégé's antics, but having four men drop in suddenly stating that Mykie had told them to come and wait for her before two of the four decided it best to leave was not something the older man was as accepting with. Ginny had offered to get the two men some food or something to drink, but both had declined; the Neko-jin much more graciously than the other man – who Sullivan decided he did not like at all. The only thing that kept him from pushing the tall duel-haired man out of the apartment was Luka.

Chancing a glance at the clock in the corner of the room, Sullivan frowned; _She's later than normal._

"Hey Dad?" Glancing up at his daughter the man continued to puff on his cigar, "Do you have any idea where Mykie is? She's not answering her texts."

"I don't, but knowing her she'll be home soon."

"Knowing her she'll still be at the office trying to unravel some new breakthrough in how bit beasts related to the Egyptian Gods or something of the like." Ginny rolled her eyes as she tugged her long hair into a ponytail, "I mean for Chrissakes she's been on this kick for weeks now…I'm worried she's just gonna disappear one of these days."

Kai and Ray shared a look with one another as they listened to the conversation between the redhead, who introduced herself as Ginny, and the older salt and pepper haired man, who was introduced by Ginny as Sullivan. Sullivan seemed to sense the look the two shared, but before he could comment the downstairs door slammed shut and the sound of footsteps running up the stairs had him waiting to see what the rush was. A moment later, Mykie appeared in the doorway, her face flushed as if she had been running and her bag slightly askew on her hip. "What the hell happened to you, kid?"

Mykie waved off his concern, greeting her large, white German Sheppard-Wolf hybrid before kicking off her shoes and tugging her blazer and bag off in one sweeping motion of her arms. She then turned her attention to the two men from her office. "I suppose we should continue where we left off?"

"Now wait just a God damn minute, Mykie!" The woman blinked at the older man who was now standing, "You come in here like the devil himself is at your heels and you're not going to explain what the hell is going on?"

"I had a break through, Sully."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah," Mykie grinned as she hopped over the chair that Ray had once occupied, the man standing when she had entered, and scooping her bag off of the table. "I'm sure Robert and Oli gave you a brief explanation as to what's going on?"

"No."

She continued despite his answer, "Well after you boys left my office, it turns out my meeting wasn't the meeting I had thought it was and my samples came in and after looking at them for what seemed like _forever_ I found something that actually relates to your case," She explained quickly to Ray and Kai, ignoring how Ginny gave her father an 'I-told-you-so' look as she crossed her arms. "It turns out, that after an excavation in Italy, old relics were found that connect directly back to HernánCortés. Now," The mauve-haired woman quickly whipped her notebook out of her bag and began flipping through pages, "As many know Francis Drake had one brief encounter with Cortés and he made note that he was " _foolish to try and push the peoples from their land_ " and that " _he wouldn't step foot in that temple be it only for El Dorado_ ". Sully, you and I went to check out the lead on El Dorado last year and it wound up being a bust, but this relates directly back to the bit beasts and your Western Gate."

"How?" Ray frowned as he looked down at the notebook in her hands, "If what you're saying is true wouldn't the Western Gate be the South Pole?"

Mykie shook her head as she pulled out another map, this one browned with age and looking centuries old, "Back when these explorers were at their height, despite the findings of Columbus that the world was _not_ flat, many still believed in the superstition. Explorers like Columbus, Cortés, Marco Polo and Ferdinand Magellan tried not to sail out of waters that they didn't know. The first explorer to even remotely come close to circumnavigating the globe was Magellan, sent to find the Maluku Islands, or the Spice Islands, out in the West – he never made it back because he was killed during a battle in the Philippines, but this opened doors to explorers like Cortés and Drake to head West in search of riches and new lands for their countries. After Columbus was rumored to make the discovery in the name of Spain, Queen Elizabeth I sent Drake to find El Dorado since she couldn't be outdone by, at the time, an enemy power."

"What I don't get is how this relates to the Western Gate or the issue with this portal you mentioned."

The woman looked up at the Russian and frowned, taking a pencil and quickly drawing lines on the map in front of her, "My point is that the map would have been seen like _this_ before the discovery of the world being round." She gestured to her new meridian lines, "The Western Gate that your bit beast mentioned would be located in either South America or even the Southern half of Africa...But in order to find out for sure I'd need to get my hands on Cortés' journal."

"Which would be where?" Sully asked as he leaned heavily on the table from where he sat, chewing thoughtfully on his cigar. Mykie winced slightly before frowning and pulling out a brochure. At a quick glance the older man sighed deeply, shaking his head. "You've got to be kidding me…"

"What?"

Mykie looked up at Kai and Ray with a frown on her face, "Not even a year ago I made a find while we," she gestured to herself and Sully who had his head in his hands, "were stuck off the coast of Panama looking for Drake's coffin and El Dorado. Along the way we found another notebook that I realized to belong to Cortés. Finding it to simply be an extra find I sold it to a museum in Istanbul for some quick cash at the time."

"It helped grease a few palms that were needed for another caper the kid and I went on."

Shooting the old man a dirty look, Mykie frowned, "Point is, I don't have the notebook anymore. If we want to get anywhere I'm going to have to get it back…"

"You mean steal it."

When the woman nodded at Kai's accusation, Ray frowned deeply, "Figures we'd end up needing the help of a thief to figure this one out. Kai are you insane!? We can't get involved in this; if we do then it'll be our necks on the line."

"Look, if this is what we need to do, then we'll do it." Kai sighed, "We need to get to the bottom of this."

Rubbing a hand down the side of his face, the Neko-jin scowled, "Look Kai, I know you're comfortable with going around the law, but I'm not."

"If it's of any consolation, I have no intention of bringing either of you with me." Mykie deadpanned from across the table.

"Are you even a _real_ historian or do you just play around with that too?"

"I'm actually a _treasure hunter_ , but _historian_ or _historical enthusiast_ sound a whole lot better," She answered. "I didn't learn this stuff by going to school, I learned it by dedicating myself to learning in general – you don't always need a fancy piece of paper with a large price tag to be able to do anything."

Ray threw his hands up in the air in exasperation before looking at Kai, who was currently glaring at her across the table, "I'm sorry Kai, this is not some fantastic story where Indiana Jones wins in the end. Seriously think about this."

Mykie raised a brow, turning her eyes to Sullivan and sighing. "Look, I'm not trying to intervene here, but I'd have to case the museum before anything else and see where the notebook is. Just because I sold it there doesn't mean that it's still there…unfortunately."

"Our jobs aren't as easy as goin' in and stealing something and waltzing back out."

"Precisely my point."

Ray shook his head, "Regardless of what _profession_ you guys have I can't believe I thought Robert would have a legitimate source."

The woman frowned openly at the Neko-jin, "I _don't_ have to explain my job to you, but I am because you asked. It's certainly not what you would expect because it's outside the parameters that meet your idea of a perfect world. Robert had warned me ahead of time about telling you two what I actually do because he knew you'd react like this. Unfortunately, the moment you walked through my office door you learned of the dark underbelly of history. There's always a race to the finish line and luckily this is something that most people find uninteresting so the idea of finding the weakness at this Western Gate of yours will be much easier than if we were going after something big like Caesar's Tomb."

Kai quirked a brow at her, "You've been to Caesar's Tomb?"

" _Not the point_ , Kai!" Ray sighed before pinching his brow between his two fingers in an effort to stave off a headache. "When I said adventure I wasn't expecting any sort of unlawfulness…I mean when we were trying to get the company back from Voltaire that was straight justice, this is another animal entirely."

Ginny sighed as she looked at her father and adoptive sister, "I'm gonna go make something to eat, d'you guys want anything."

"Whatever you bring out is fine, Gin." Sullivan sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He turned smoky blue eyes to regard his protégé, Mykie remaining completely unaware to his observation as her attention was split between the arguing men in front of her as well as her notes. Her bit chip, which she kept on a chain around her neck along with the ring that once belonged to her birth father, was caught in her hand and she rubbed the surface of it between her thumb and pointer finger. She looked conflicted and after a moment her phone began to ring.

The argument settled as everyone turned to look at her phone and with a frown she answered it, "You left me a right mess, Robert." Suddenly her scowl turned into one of confusion as she pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the tall, duel-haired man, "He wants to talk to you."

Kai took the phone from her, glancing at it before placing it to his ear. Sullivan could hear the German on the other end of the phone and quirked a brow when all the Russian did was grunt in reply. After a moment he pulled the phone away from his ear and handed it back to her and she slipped it back into her pocket, knowing the German had hung up. With a sigh the Russian looked up at her, "I'm not normally one to cave before Ray is, but I say we do what we have to."

"What'd he say to you?"

Kai looked at his long-time friend and ran a hand through his hair, "Apparently your trainee isn't the only one having an issue with a bit beast."

"What?"

The Russian nodded slowly, watching as Ray battled back and forth with the information that he had just given him. Kai had known the Neko-jin long enough to know that he was extremely reasonable once presented information that would push him in a certain direction. He had always been someone who fought for those who couldn't fight for themselves and Kai knew Ray would eventually cave. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Mykie turned away, the slender make of the android she was using glinting at him as she bit the skin of her thumb. After a moment she began speaking fluently in what he briefly recognized as Turkish, her amethyst eyes glinting under the warm light that now flickered around the room as it had gotten darker the longer the argument continued.

After a tense silence, Ray sighed; "I know I'm going to regret this, but alright." If Kai had been anyone else he would have been jumping for joy, but by the nod the dark-haired man had given him, he knew his smirk had conveyed the emotion; though as he looked back at him, he noticed Ray's cat-like eyes were more sharp than normal, "I'm doing this specifically because I know you wouldn't lead me into a situation where it gets too crazy and even if it does, you'd find a way to get us out. But the minute this gets out of hand is the minute I'm going to have to walk away from the table."

"I wouldn't expect you to do anything more than you're comfortable with, Ray."

Feeling better about the situation, Ray nodded with a small smile and looked back to the treasure hunter to see that she was glaring out of the window, her phone still raised to her ear and grunting affirmative responses every now and again. He knew he had perhaps reacted more violently than he had intended, but she didn't strike him as the type to be completely dishonest and he found himself feeling slightly guilty for the way he had spoken to her when she was putting herself out on the line because of a favor.

" _Evet, çok teşekkür ederim_." Hanging up the phone she turned to the two men and sighed, "Well, gentlemen, I hope you have passports, because it looks like I'm getting that notebook."

Sullivan crossed his arms, "Legitimately?"

"Well, yeah," She shrugged before gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb towards Ray, as she had turned from them to grab another book, "Well, with do-goodie Herminie Granger crying about the moral injustice of it all over here," Ray had the decency to look both embarrassed and irritated by the jab, but Mykie continued nonplussed, "I had little choice. Besides I have a friend who owes me a favor."

The older man shook his head, "How much?" When the woman flinched slightly Sullivan knew she had taken a hit, "You didn't…"

"Yeah…"

Sullivan shook his head with a deep sigh and Mykie ignored him as she turned her attention back to the two men. "Assuming you don't have anywhere to stay tonight, you're welcome here."

"Um…we wouldn't want to impo–"

"Thank you."

Ray shot Kai a dirty look as the smaller woman nodded before tucking her notebook into her chest and circling the table. "If you'll follow me then, I show you guys your room. I know Ginny is making dinner and you're more than welcome to poke around if you'd like…just stay away from Sully's room...and my room as well..." Mykie added as if an afterthought. She seemed to be more rigid than when she had entered the flat and so the two bladers said nothing as she climbed the spiral staircase just outside of the main room they had been in. After a few moments of silence the woman spoke, "I'll get the details ironed out for our trip to Turkey…"

"I'm sorry."

Mykie's brow arched, disappearing under her fringe as she regarded the Neko-jin, "What for?"

"Well…I kinda over reacted and it seems like the favor you had to call in was worth more then what you were hoping it would. So, I'm sorry for that."

"Apology accepted for the over reaction, but for the favor it's no big deal." With the situation settled in her eyes, Mykie led them to a room at the end of the upstairs hallway before opening the door and allowing the two of them inside. "It's not much, but you guys won't be here all that long to find any real discomfort with it."

Kai only glanced at her before stepping into the room and placing his stuff down on the bed closest to the window leaving Ray to stand next to Mykie at the door. Ray offered her an uneasy smile, "Sorry, he's not exactly a social butterfly."

"Whatever you say…" she raised her hands in a sign of surrender, "Anyway, I'll be downstairs if you guys need me. I'm sure Ginny will holler when she's got food ready."

"Um, yeah…we'll be there. Thanks for all this, Mykie."

With an awkward smile the woman shrugged, "Yeah well, don't thank me just yet."

Ray only forced a smile before watching as she shut the door behind them before turning to look at the Russian who had quickly become one of his best friends.

His relationship in general with people had fallen to the wayside over the last few years and it had taken Kai, surprisingly enough, to pull him back out of it and set him back on track. For nearly nine years he and Mariah had dated and had been engaged, but she had called it off and never given him a real answer as to why and still to this day he didn't know. He had gotten word from Lee that she had gotten married shortly after she had left him at the altar and the Neko-jin, at the time, had fallen into a hole that had seemed quite too deep. He disconnected himself from everyone and began picking fights – something that he would never otherwise do if he had been in his right mind – staying out late and had even resorted to drowning his sorrows with whatever liquor he had been able to find and that he could afford.

At the time, Kai had been remodeling the whole company that his Grandfather had turned into an expensive weapons facility into a business that would promote sportsmanship and equal opportunities to any who wished to join. It hadn't taken Kai long to tie his business to the still-rebuilding BBA, who had taken a serious hit years after the BEGA fiasco, and fund it as well as it's many helpful afterschool programs and training facilities and so Ray had thought that he would be too busy for him and had neglected his first attempt at reaching out. It hadn't been until Ray had hit his lowest that Kai had shown up at his apartment in Hong Kong and dragged him back into reality. He had gotten him financially stable and even made a position for him at the branch facility in America. Ray had always been thankful to Kai and he knew the feeling would always be mutual, especially after he and the rest of the team had saved Kai back in Russia from falling through the ice.

Even with all the history between them, Ray couldn't help but feel slightly confused as to what they were truly doing.

"You're awfully quiet over there." Kai's voice seemed to rumble in the quiet of the room, "Normally I can't get you to shut up for more than five minutes…what's up?"

Looking up, Ray immediately noticed Kai's thoughtful stare and shook his head, "Sorry, it's just a lot to take in y'know?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I mean, really, two weeks ago we were just trying to figure out why this was happening and then it suddenly turns into some treasure hunt? That's for movies, Kai…this is the kind of stuff you see in movies and read in books…it's not made for reality."

"Clearly it is."

"Look," Ray frowned, "I know you're always willing to go as far as necessary to set things right, but this is just crazy. Some old ancient story about a bit portal and all this nonsense with spirit guides and gods just doesn't add up to me."

Kai sighed, pinching his nose as if he was staving off a headache, "The way I see it is that none of it should add up. Realistically we have spirits that are sealed in a piece of metal that talk to us on a daily basis. To people who've never experienced that would call _us_ crazy. I'm not gonna lie to you and say that I'm completely convinced because I'm not. But my gut is tellin' me that this is what needs to happen and I don't trust anything but that."

Ray ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "Alright…I trust you, but as nice as she seems to be I don't trust Mykie."

"Neither do I."

The Neko-jin blinked, "Then what're we here for?"

"To fix the problem with these bit beasts…clearly something's wrong and no one else is gonna do anything about it." Kai sighed as he stood and stretched out his back, "But like I said, I'm going completely on my gut – as soon as it changes, you'll be the first to know."

"Noted."

They both stopped when they heard the faint calling for dinner time before silently agreeing to head back downstairs. With their mutual understanding and skepticism out in the air, Ray felt better about being around the dark haired woman. Perhaps this wouldn't be too bad after all.

How wrong he was.


	4. Chapter 3

_~Coming Home~ ©EirlysLavellan  
~Beyblade~ ©Takao Aoki_

 **Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own Beyblade that right belongs strictly to Takao Aoki. I do however, own any unrecognizable characters and the plot line. Also as a disclaimer - I drew inspiration from movies/games/stories such as _Indiana Jones_ , _Lara Croft: Tomb Raider_ and _Uncharted_ : All rights reserved to each creator/writer of these original plots. Any historical references were researched extensively by myself and bent for flexibility to fit the outlines of this story when necessary as this is a work of fiction.

* * *

 **Coming Home  
03: The Adventure Begins**

Mykie sighed to herself as she pulled her hair back into a messy bun, her fringe falling across her brow and curtaining part of her face from view as she leaned over the sink in the bathroom. Not a day before, Mykie, Sullivan, Ray and Kai had arrived in Istanbul, Turkey and had checked into a hotel in hopes of securing the notebook and already Mykie wanted to turn tail and return to her flat in London. It wasn't very often that she felt like running away from a problem, but the two ex-champion bladers were enough to offset any excitement she felt towards the job they had presented to her.

Running her hand along the side of her face she took a long look at herself. Her olive toned skin was bordering on a slightly more russet tone due to her time in the sun, the flesh smooth and unblemished save for a few scars here and there. Her hair, which curled naturally into a beachy texture, was pulled away from her face and showing her pierced ears as well as the tattoo that lay on her shoulder and just barely met the base of her neck, her fringe covering her brow as usual and framing her heart-shaped face. A glance at the silvery-lavender tips brought the slightest joy to her as it added a splash of color that was very much needed – she made a note to thank Ginny for convincing her to get balayage highlights throughout the length of her mane as it was just what she needed. She sighed deeply, a frown tugging her full lips downwards on her otherwise youthful features – her eyes while normally wide and bright, seemed dull and matched the darker circles that fell under her eyes. Shaking her head she pushed away from the vanity and adjusted her dark henley top, a series of three layered tanks could be seen underneath from where the looser fabric was unbuttoned and tucked into her fitted skinny jeans.

"Hey, you almost done in there kid?"

Blinking and looking down at her watch, Mykie sighed, "Crap. Sorry, Sully, I didn't realize how long I was taking." Opening the door she offered the older man a forced smile and he shook his head at her.

"Didn't know you cared about your teeth so much…" After a moment, he frowned, "You know you don't actually have to go through with this right?"

"I know, but something's telling me that something big could come from this…it all depends on what we find in that notebook."

"So, what you're saying is we're dicking these guys over?"

Mykie shook her head with a more genuine smile, "Not necessarily. We're gonna help 'em with the whole bit portal thing, but no one ever said we couldn't keep what we find along the way."

"Look, I'm just trying to figure out why you're putting your neck out on the line. I mean, if it's because two relatively good lookin' guys came outta the wood work and approached you with an interesting venture – I wouldn't blame ya, but I'd tell ya you're getting your head up too high in this thing."

"It's not that at all," Mykie snorted as she laced up her mid-shin high combat boots, "Think about it, Sully. _Hernán Cortés_ was notably one of the most well known conquistadors of his time and especially in the Americas, he's the whole reason why the Aztec Empire fell. When Azteca fell, where do you think _all_ of that treasure went?"

"You think that his notebook will tell us."

"Exactly!" She smiled, "I mean there's no way a man like Cortés would walk away empty handed after defeating one of the most _powerful_ empires of the time and give everything back to the King of Spain, Charles I, especially since he was a mutineer and was trying to obtain clemency for his crimes against the crown for ignoring direct orders."

"Like how much are we talkin' here 'cause bills aren't gonna pay themselves y'know." Sullivan stated around the mouth of his cigar. Mykie only offered him a sly grin as she reached for her notebook.

"Well, lemme put it this way Sully…" She opened to a more recent page and handed it to him. "After his conquest in Azteca a higher more prestigious title was given to Antonio de Mendoza even though Cortésdid all the work. A lot of his voyages following were _undocumented_ , or so it's believed, and then suddenly he winds up back in Spain – wealthy, though bitter, and dies peacefully."

Sullivan only spared her an irritated look, "Myke, the point while I'm young."

"Alright, alright, I'm getting to that. Now, Cortés was known to have an interpreter that he later sired a child with. _Her_ name was Malinalli…" At Sullivan's blank look she sighed in exasperation, "Malintzin, Doña Marina, La Malinche…the woman who's always portrayed as a temptress in all those Mexican telenovelas you used to watch." When he seemed to recognize who she was talking about she continued, "She was known to follow him wherever he went and aided him in turning her countrymen against each other, or so they say, but what if she was the key prize to getting _everything_ from the Empire."

"You lost me."

Sighing she flipped to another page in her notebook, "I can't confirm it for sure until I have Cortés' notebook, _but_ if she made off with half of the Empire's riches then there's gotta be thousands worth in undiscovered treasure."

"I like the thousands part…"

"I knew you would."

"So, say we manage to get this notebook off of your contact, which I'm still _really_ not fond of, how do you plan on masking all this?"

Mykie sighed, "I don't know. We'll figure it out, but since I have half the clues…"

"With Cortés' notebook you'll have all of 'em and be able to sweep the treasure out from anyone planning on following us…namely this _friend_ of yours…I gotta hand it to ya kid, you managed to turn this around for me."

"What can I say, I live to please Sullivan. Now what say you to getting our lovely guests and heading down to the museum?"

Sullivan gave her a wolfish smile, "Sounds like a plan to me."

oOo

Kai watched the petite woman carefully as she paced back and forth as they waited for her contact to show themselves and give them the notebook. She seemed tense and the looks that the older man kept shooting her were ones of both annoyance and concern – not unlike a look a parent would give their child for their impenitence and the Russian shook off the slight stab of jealousy. The closest thing he had to a parental figure was Mr. Dickinson, the happily retired chairman to the BBA. In the years since he had been a teenager, the old man had provided him with many words of wisdom and a gently guided hand that he had been reluctant to take because of his own upbringing, but he appreciated it more as an adult and so had made sure he visited the old man on a weekly basis.

"Calm down, Mykie…"

"I'm trying to…"

Sullivan scoffed, "Well try harder because it looks like your friend sent out a watch dog."

Kai raised his eyes briefly to look at the tall and muscular man – it was clear he was native to the region with dark hair and bold, thick brows. He had slight scruff around his face that hid a few scars and his eyes were a piercing silver. He was openly staring down the young woman who scoffed openly and loud enough for the taller man to hear.

"Well maybe the watch dog would be kind enough to tell my friend that it's rude to keep guests waiting."

"Zhen vhat vould be dha point of making heem stand zhere."

Looking up he noticed a woman standing with her arms crossed and a wide smile on her painted lips. She was taller than Mykie by six inches and wore a professional pantsuit and heels combo, her long hair piled into an intricate updo at the top of her head and it didn't miss his notice the amount of jewelry this woman wore. Frowning he watched as Mykie forced a pleasant smile to her lips and embraced the woman.

"Ah, Zeynap it's good to see you."

The woman only smiled pleasantly, "I vould have newer guessed vith zhat talk."

"You know how I run, what can I say…" She shrugged before crossing her arms, "So, what's say we get this show on the road huh?"

"Yes, I agree." Zeynap then turned her eyes to where Sullivan had stood, "Ah, Sulliwan Roberts, it iz good to see you again."

"Likewise, Miss Kaplan."

It quickly became clear to him that words were weighed heavily here and he quickly leaned closer to Ray, "Try not to mention anything about why we're here."

"Why's that?"

"Look at the way their talking…everything is very restrained…if you're forced to say anything keep it tailored."

"Got it."

"Ah!" Looking up Kai was met with dark, raven-esque irises that appeared hollow and devoid of any life. Her eyes unnerved him, but Kai had certainly faced worse things in his life. "And vho are zhese handsome men you hawe here, Mika?"

Kai ignored the fact that the woman had called Mykie something different and briefly turned his eyes to the petite woman. Her body language said enough and Kai knew to keep his answers very vague, however, she stepped in before he could answer her. "They're my interns."

"Interns?"

"Yeah, so a little young for you Zeynap, but that's why I'm here."

"Ah, yes…" Though she seemed to have acquiesced, the lingering look she gave both him and Ray made him uncomfortable. It was as if she was a cat with a mouse and Kai hated being put in situations that made him the metaphorical mouse. She then turned a pleasant smile towards Mykie, "Right zhis way. I vill admeet I vas sorprised vhen you called, Mika."

"Oh really?" Sully and the woman shared a brief look before she turned her attention back to the Turkish woman, "Why's that?"

"You only ewer call vhen you vant somezhing."

"Now that's not entirely true, I called you just last year for your birthday."

"You called seexs months ago for a trensfer of Francis Drake's maps and zhen you find El Dorado."

"I didn't find anything. There was no archeological discovery because the fabled Golden City was just a statue of brass."

When Ray turned a questioning look to Sullivan the old man sighed and leaned closer to him, "It was a cursed treasure that had the capability of turning living humans into these twisted monsters. We didn't exactly want that information to get out to the public so we sent it deep into the ocean and forged all of our findings."

"Oh…"

"Sounds far-fetched to me."

Sullivan glared at the Russian, "Considering you battle other people with spinning tops and have a mythological spirit beast sealed into it, I don't think you got much room to talk."

"Well, I doubt the zombie apocalypse is gonna be brought on by a thousand year old statue."

With a snicker from the Neko-jin and a bemused look from the older man, Kai turned his eyes back to the two women walking further ahead of them. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company for the most part, but Kai could definitely tell that the reactions were forced and with a questioning look to Sullivan the man shook his head.

"I'll tell ya about it when we're out of here."

With a nod, he frowned to himself. It was clear that Mykie hadn't been exaggerating when she told them that the world they had walked into was much darker than the reality they were used to, though Kai was no stranger to the darker side of things given his own background. He honestly wondered how far this was going to take them and what was going to come of it when they were done. He sincerely hoped it would ease up tensions within the newer bit beasts that were appearing and he sighed as warmth filled him. Dranzer had never truly spoken to him unless she felt she needed to and mostly because in his early years he hadn't truly respected the beast. It took a great deal of learning and then almost losing her to truly understand that Dranzer was the only being that he could openly rely on. Instead of speaking to him, when he needed to be reminded of his purpose she would allow her presence to be known in the form of heat – the feeling had brought him much comfort when he had been in Russia as a child and reminded him of the warmth of a summer day or even the warmth of a mother's arms. With the shake of his head he dislodged any and all thoughts regarding his mother before frowning as the two women stepped into the office ahead of them.

"Despite our differences, Mika, it iz wanderful to know you ztill remember vhere to go in need."

Mykie shrugged, "I don't forget the people who help me out, Zeynap."

"Yes…I suppose you don't." Reaching into the drawer in her desk, the Turkish woman pulled out an aged notebook and offered the shorter woman a cat-like smile. "Here iz zhe book. Do you hawe vhat ve agreed on?"

Mykie smirked at the woman, "I'll need to authenticate the book…" With a glare, Zeynap handed it over to her and allowed her to inspect it. After a moment, Mykie nodded and handed it to Sullivan, "Another opinion," she had stated easily at the suspicious look on the Turkish woman's face. After a moment Sully nodded and Mykie placed the notebook on the desk in front of her and reached into her shirt. Kai and Ray watched in interest as she pulled out the long cord she wore, one they both recognized as the cord she wore her bit chip on, the metal glinting in the florescent lights of the office. "The chip as promised."

"I'll need to authenticate it…"

"Of course," She smiled easily and removed the ring from its holdings.

Zeynap turned it over in her hands and pulled out a loupe before turning the chip over in her hands, "Titanium disk…and the legendary God of Foxes" Kai's brow quirked as he and Ray shared another look, "How iz it you came upon zhis again?"

"Family heirloom."

"Ah, I suppose zhat makes senze…" Zeynap murmured before placing the ring on the table in front of Mykie and smiling, "Well it iz authentic."

"Well, you can never say I wasn't honest." Kai watched as she grabbed the chip from the desk and turned the silver over in her fingers before jumping as Sullivan began coughing violently. Ray immediately began patting the old man on the back and he waved his hands in an effort to say he was alright – even Zeynap's eyes had snapped towards the man and as Kai looked back at Mykie he noticed that she didn't seem all that phased, though there was light concern in her eyes.

Just what was she planning?

After a moment, Sullivan got his breathing under control and thanked Ray before nodding to the two women, "Sorry about that…lungs aren't what they used to be."

"I told you to lay off the smoking." Sullivan waved off Mykie's comment as he turned away from them and used his hand to cover his smirk. The woman sighed before handing the chip back to Zeynap and taking the book in her hand. "Are we concluded on business?"

The woman nodded easily, "Yes, zhank you for zhis Mika…I'm sure to complete zhe exhibit now." Her look then turned critical, "You zeem to be completely at ease wizh zhis…won't your family be sad to see zhis go?"

Mykie sighed, "It's fine. I'd rather it be here then get lost when I'm on a site." She then smiled before shaking hands with the woman once more. "Thank you Zeynap, I'm sure we'll be in touch soon."

"Certainly."

With the business concluded, Mykie nodded to the men before stepping out of the office and while to anyone else it would look leisurely, Kai could certainly tell something was up.

"You really just traded your bit beast for a notebook!?

Mykie ignored the Neko-jin's angered voice as she walked quickly down the hallway and leaving the three men to catch up to her. She knew they weren't in the clear just yet and she wanted to make sure there were no ears or eyes on them before she explained herself. Kai, however, was more perceptive than she had given him credit for.

"What's going on?"

"We're leaving and getting out of here as quickly as possible." Mykie answered quietly before turning her head over her shoulder, "Thanks for that back there, by the way."

"Anytime kid."

Ray frowned, "Wait I'm confused… _what_ just happened?"

After looking between both Mykie and Sullivan, Kai growled, "You just scammed them didn't you?"

"That's such a harsh word," She sighed, "All I did was keep what was mine to begin with, but we can argue about this later, we need to get out of here before she decides to look more into the Arseni's chip." After a moment she looked down at her phone and smiled at Sullivan, "Looks like I'm gonna have to buy a new phone though…"

Sullivan could only laugh while Ray and Kai looked at each other with looks of skepticism.

oOo

They had managed to get back to London, where Mykie had effectively destroyed her phone before boarding in Turkey – the woman appeared more paranoid and after a brief explanation from Sullivan stating that she had been bugged before, Kai and Ray both understood her caution.

"So explain something to me because I'm actually really confused," Ray frowned after a minute as he looked at the ring around her neck, "Why even promise your bit beast's chip when you didn't want to give it up in the first place?"

Mykie leaned on the table and sighed, "Well treasure hunters have a very easy way of obtaining any kind of fancy and expensive treasure they want to cash in for a couple hundred grand. This chip is one of a kind as is Arseni as a bit beast."

"God of Foxes?"

She turned her eyes to the Russian and nodded, "I don't know much more on him just because there's very little documentation and he rarely feels it necessary to share much about himself so I've very little to go on. Nevertheless, I discovered a long time ago that people _wanted_ his chip and therefore him…I've spent more time preventing that and it's why he goes everywhere I go."

"So what not promise something else?" Ray inquired with furrowed brows, brushing his fringe from his sculpted features, "Like the ring you keep with you all the time."

She merely frowned at him, "This ring was passed down in my family for generations and so it's one of a kind." She pulled the cord out of her shirt, pausing for a brief moment before passing it to Kai, who turned it over in his hands.

"Sic Parvis Magna?"

" **Greatness from small beginnings** …" Kai and Mykie looked at one another as they both answered Ray's question. The Neko-jin glanced between the two in surprise before watching as Kai handed the ring back to the mauve-haired woman, who made fast work of putting the necklace back around her neck, watching as she traced it with her fingers. "I thought Francis Drake didn't have any children."

Mykie offered him a coy smile, "Fan of pirates there, Hiwatari?" When he only smirked she continued, "Well he supposedly didn't, but he was the oldest of twelve siblings, most of which were boys – so maybe I'm not directly related back to the explorer, but the Drake name is something I certainly inherited. My mother seemed to think we were."

Sullivan coughed awkwardly before clearing his throat in an effort to distract from her last comment and Kai's brow arched beneath the curtain of his own fringe at the thankful look Mykie passed to him, "So what does Cortés have to say about all of this?"

"Yeah," Ray piped up as he stood from his seat and walked closer to where the notebook sat open on the table. "I'm not gonna lie and say I'm not curious."

"Well, the most I've been able to make out yet is that he was studying Magellan's own voyages _extremely_ close. At the time both of them would have been sailing, Magellan for Portugal and Cortés for Spain, they would have been in competition with each other. From what's detailed in his notebook, apparently he had a brief run-in with Magellan after Magellan had denounced his Portuguese citizenship because King Manuel wouldn't support his voyage to head westward in an effort to make it to the Spice Islands."

"How do you know that?"

Mykie looked up at Kai, noting that he was more interested than being sarcastic, "Well, _history_ tells us that. His voyage west was funded by the Spanish, not the Portuguese and was ultimately his last voyage as he never made it back home."

"So, you're saying that Cortés had a run-in with him…"

"Yeah," Mykie smiled, turning the notebook to Kai and showing him the passage, "Apparently they were both vying for King Charles I's attention when it came to expeditions. Cortés wanted to head west in search of riches, while Magellan was looking to corner the spice trade. While gold was good, spice was the real treasure during their days and so when Charles I chose to support Magellan, Cortés became angry that someone outside of his own country was supported over someone of that nation. But the main reasoning behind Charles I choosing to invest in Magellan's voyage was because his grandparents, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had supported Columbus' voyage in 1492 and that had bore more results than any of their own countrymen."

"So, what happened?"

"Well that's where it gets weird." She admitted as she looked up at Sullivan, "Apparently, Cortés was looking for something he called the _Clave al cielo_ …or the Key to Heaven…Here it says he never found it, but he did find the _Portam spiritibus_ …I'm not sure why one is in Spanish, while the other is in Latin, but it could be because the Gate of Spirits is older?"

"So…you mean that the Gate of Spirits is the gate we need to focus on in order to figure out why bit beasts are going haywire. How do we find this stuff?"

Mykie frowned deeply in thought, "I'm honestly not sure…the only thing I can come up with is if we went to the burial site of Cortés and see what's buried with the old man."

"Do you have no shame?"

"Not really, no."

"I'm not rifling around a tomb."

"Do you seriously not know what _treasure hunter_ means?"

"I know what it means thanks."

"Guys," Kai cut in with a grunt as he cupped his chin in thought. Mykie and Ray shared a look before turning their attention to the Russian as he glanced between both Cortés' notebook and Mykie's. "I think it's written in Spanish because it doesn't actually have a name – I mean if Cortés knew what it was actually called he would have had the proper name for it…meanwhile the Gate is titled in Latin because it must have been something that he discovered."

Mykie considered the Russian's point before frowning down at the book, "If that's the case maybe Cortés never found the key…but if he found the gate then that's a good sign."

"So we need to find the key…is that right?"

When Mykie nodded, Ray turned his attention to Sullivan as he stepped up to the table and glared at the younger woman, "You know kid, I thought this would've been simpler…"

"Me too, Sully."

"So what's our next move?"

"I…I don't know yet."

"Well it sounds like we need to figure out what happened to the key." Mykie looked up as Kai crossed his arms, his garnet eyes piercing, "Is there any information in there about the gate itself?"

Mykie flipped through the notebook and frowned. It seemed as if Cortés had taken note of something inside the notebook and she immediately connected the images, "These are ancient Aztec symbols…so that must be where the gate is, but…"

Kai circled the table and stood next to her so he could see the images as well, his brows pinching together tightly over his eyes, "Is there any way to translate this?"

"Gimmie a sec," She murmured as she stared at the symbols before noting the small paragraph written beneath. After a moment she seemed to understand what it was saying. "It's vague, but it translates to: _give unto the gods and goddesses the sacrifice in blood to appease their wills and spirits for the protection of the four sacred beasts; the four seasons: Air, Fire, Earth and Water – the Serpent of the North, the Phoenix of the South, the Tiger of the West and the Turtle of the East._ " She frowned deeply after a moment, stumbling around the translation for a brief moment as it was translated from Aztecan into 16th century Spanish. " _For the land of the gods and goddesses houses them and protects all others – the Gateway of Spirits shall not open unless the Key of Heaven should be used._ That's all he's got translated here…I'm assuming it was his mistress who translated the original symbols, but I can't read the rest."

"Well that tells us absolutely nothing."

Mykie ignored Sullivan as he ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, her fingers playing with the necklace around her neck. " _Sic Parvis Magna_ …" repeating the phrase seemed to slowly make things clearer for her and she turned sharply, her body jerking slightly from where she had been completely still a moment before. She grabbed a map before tracing out a route from Spain in a red marker. After she finished she grabbed a blue marker and drew another route out of Spain and smiled to herself. "The Pacific Islands…"

"What?"

Mykie looked up at Kai and smiled widely. "Our first clue has to be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

"Why do you think it's there?"

"Well, on his voyage to obtain a faster route to the Spice Islands, Magellan made a stop at one of the Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that he had found in order to restock on supplies – Cortés while on the run from the crown for acts of mutiny also made a stop on these islands after following Magellan…You said that your bit beast was suddenly attacked right?"

Ray frowned, "Yeah…"

"And your bit beast said there was a weakness in the Western Gate…"

Kai nodded in reply and watched as she spun the map for them to see. "At one point in the voyages, both Cortés and Magellan's paths met. Suddenly in their logs the next entry is nearly four months after they encountered each other…don't you find that odd?"

"Um…can't say that I see where you're going with this…"

Mykie sighed in exasperation, "At one point they were either working together _or_ they were looking for the same thing."

"Ohhhh…."

"What?" Ray asked as he looked at Sullivan, "What is it?"

"You think Magellan found the key that Cortés was lookin' for."

"Yes!" She smiled, "It goes directly along with what Cortés was able to have translated and how Magellan had rightfully gotten his way with the King of Spain over Cortés. They would have been trying to one-up the other in an attempt at receiving fame and fortune. And how ironic is it that two wielders of the Sacred Beasts are standing right in front of me?" She grinned suddenly as she dropped the map on the table, "Dranzer, the phoenix and the guardian of the South and Driger the white tiger and the guardian of the West."

"Oh my god…Tyson and Max…" Kai nodded as Ray gaped, if there were issues with both of their bit beasts it was only a matter of time before Dragoon and Draciel would begin to act strange. "And all of this ties into this portal you were talking about a few days ago?"

Mykie nodded, "Yeah…which also means the bit portal is the Gateway of Spirits that Cortés must have found."

"So…we've got a plan?"

"Yeah, we got a plan."

Sullivan shook his head with a smile, "I'll go and get _The Maria_ ready."

" _The Maria_?"

Mykie grinned at the Neko-jin, "Sully's biplane. She'll get us where we need to go and especially since we don't need you two drawing attention to yourselves."

"Ha ha, really funny."

"Anyway, I'm gonna go and get some things ready for the trip." Mykie stated as she gathered up the journals, "You guys are more than welcome to look around – we're probably gonna be leaving in a few hours." Without waiting for the two men to answer her, she turned and made her way back upstairs. With a deep sigh she leaned against her door as soon as she managed to close it, her eyes sliding closed as she attempted to relax. Pushing herself off of the door, she began gathering things she would inevitably need for the trip and making sure everything was compact and could fit into a backpack.

Being a treasure hunter was not a glamorous life and Mykie had learned that at a young age. As she looked around her room in an effort to find anything else she had missed, her eyes found the picture of her parents – one that was given to her after they had died and she frowned. Normally she hid the picture in an effort to put her best foot forward, but for some reason it had been sitting out on her night table. Taking the photo into her hands she frowned down at the two people staring back at her.

"Hey, Mykie, Sullivan's –"

Immediately the photo was put down as she turned to look at the Neko-jin, his amber eyes wide as he realized he had clearly disturbed her thoughts. Offering a disarming smile, she tapped the photo against her fingers before looking up at him. "Sorry, erm…it's just…what can I do for you?"

"Well, Sullivan sent me up here to tell you he's ready whenever you are…"

"Ah, gotcha. I didn't realize what time it was…"

After a moment of silence, where he watched her cast one more look to the photo before grabbing her bag, the Neko-jin frowned slightly, "I didn't mean to intrude…"

"It's okay…I was just kinda lost in thought for a bit…"

Shooting her a look, he glanced at the photo, "The people in the photo…"

She forced a smile, "My parents…" Clearing her throat she placed the photo back on her night table, "Anyway, we should probably get going…Sully tends to get impatient when he's left to waiting."

Ray nodded as he exited the room and waiting as she closed the door behind her. He didn't ask her about the picture in fear of it being too personal of a question, but the image was burned into his mind's eye. The photo had been of a couple and clearly Mykie's parents.

Her mother was certainly beautiful, clearly of Arab descent, with a wild and untamed mane of curls that nearly formed a large mane and made her long face seem slim and angular, even. Her skin was smooth and even, a gorgeous shade of russet – her lips full, much like Mykie's, and had been painted in the picture a deep ruby red. Her eyes had been a unique shade of brown almost appearing a hazel and she had worn a loose, white cable-knitted sweater and seemed to be of slim but athletic build. Her father had dwarfed the woman, his arm tossed carelessly over the woman's shoulders, his skin was absent the melanin that his wife clearly had. His hair was a lighter brown and his eyes were a stormy amethyst an odd mix of both grey and purple that made the man much more unique looking. A more heart-shaped face leaned against the hair of his wife and a joyous smile had been on his face which brightened his otherwise serious features and softening them. He had worn a deep blue t-shirt that had brought out a more blue hue to his eyes and his facial hair had been trimmed and neat in a mustache-goatee.

Chancing a look at the woman next to him, Ray could see she had taken after her parents rather well. She had her mother's hair and while she was a significantly lighter complexion than the woman pictured, she too had melanin present in her skin. The only traces of her father he could see was her eyes, her face and even her apparent taste in clothing – otherwise she completely took after her mother. Frowning softly, Ray couldn't help but feel his guilt rearing its ugly head once more as he thought about the expression on her face when he had practically barged into her room. Her expression seemed torn between being poignant and thunderous, the picture nearly being crushed between her clenching fingers.

"Do you guys need anything before we leave?"

Ray looked up from his contemplation and stared at her briefly, "Not that Kai's mentioned. I know I don't necessarily need anything – we brought enough clothes and stuff to last us." He watched as Mykie bobbed her head in understanding. "If you don't mind me asking, how long do you think this'll take?"

"Well do you want my honest answer or the one that screams rainbows and unicorns?" She inquired with a humorous look on her face. The Neko-jin considered her question, shooting her a deadpanned expression.

"Should I be afraid to ask now? Because I am."

Chuckling, Mykie shook her head, "It honestly will depend…"

"On what?"

"Well…in my experience up to this point, there's always someone I'm competing with for a lost civilization or treasure…"

"Is that what happened with El Dorado?"

"Something like that," She answered.

Ray shot her another bemused look, "And what happened to them?"

"Well…" Mykie shot dryly, "When people shoot at you, you shoot back and ask questions later."

Ray stopped walking and watched as Mykie continued ahead of him to where Kai was standing and clearly waiting for them – Sullivan standing just a bit ahead next to the van. Ginny sat in the driver's seat, clearly their driver to the airport so they could get to Sullivan's biplane that would take them out to the Pacific Islands. Ginny had expressed her luck when they had split up for a short time to get their things together and he almost envied the younger woman for not being involved at all in the danger he was about to partake in whether he understood just what that meant or not. Shaking his head he sighed deeply in an effort to quell his nerves as he stepped out of the flat.

"Well…that's definitely _not_ comforting."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hey there guys! So normally I'd put this in the beginning, but I figured I'd let you all jump right into the story this time! Any who, I'm so sorry about the lack of update for this story - I recently had computer problems and my old one blue screened me :( but I'm back using a netbook/tablet until I can save up to get another one.

Thank you all for the continued support and remember: all reviews are lovely and appreciated, but not mandatory for an update; with that said I'd love to hear what you guys think of it anyway! The next update should be out in the next few weeks since I have to go back and rewrite most of the story since my old computer took the story with it D; But we'll get through this I promise!

I hope you enjoyed! Next chapter we're finally starting the full adventure!

Much Love xoxo  
Eirlys


	5. Chapter 4

**Coming Home  
04: On ****Cortés' Trail: Magellan's Find**

"Are you sure this is the place?"

Mykie sighed, "Yeah, this has to be it."

"How can you be so sure," Ray sighed deeply as he swatted another leaf out of his way, his amber eyes narrowed slightly. He wore a loose black sports jacket over a white tank and loose dark-washed jeans, climbing shoes were clad to his feet and his dark and unruly hair was tied back and away from his face. The Neko-jin hadn't changed much over the years, the most notable difference was the lack of cloth that wrapped his once insanely long hair, the strands simply hanging down passed his shoulder blades and the sharper angles to his face from where he had lost most of the baby-fat he had held in his cheeks as a teenager. Kai almost laughed at the look that appeared on Mykie's face, but withheld his humor as the man continued to rant under his breath. "Seriously, everything's so overgrown here it's like finding a needle in a haystack."

Finally seeming to lose her patience, the mauve-haired woman spun on them, "It doesn't take much to find clues of what we're looking for – besides this island would have been inhabited nearly seven hundred years ago so the idea of having a road is completely out of the question."

"Look, let's just keep moving," Kai sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He adjusted his off-white henley, where the sleeves were rolled up and exposing his toned forearms, so that the fabric wasn't twisting under the strap of his backpack. He, like Ray, wore a pair of dark-wash jeans and a pair of climbing shoes and fingerless gloves. Mykie and Ray shared another look of annoyance with one another before the men allowed the shorter woman to take the lead once more.

Mykie's eyes surveyed the area around them. Sullivan had dropped them off on the beach saying he would radio them if he saw anything suspicious – which the young treasure hunter doubted as the island was clearly deserted and overgrown. Frowning softly she stopped as she came to what seemed like a path that seemed to divide into two separate directions, a large mass of plant-life separating the two paths.

"A dead end, great…"

"Where do we go now?"

Mykie ignored the two as she stepped closer to the large mass, examining it for a few moments before reaching into the plants and pulling them apart. After a small effort on her part, she managed to pull away the vines and leaves to see a stone hidden beneath, the carvings bold and moss-covered with age.

"Whoa…" Ray gaped as he turned his golden eyes to the stone that was now revealed. "What is that?"

After a moment, the treasure hunter hummed to herself, her expression mirroring deep thought, "This stone predates the 16th century…I'd say closer to the 11th or 12th century, which would mean it predates the Triple Alliance…" She drew off after a moment, wiping more debris from the stone so she could get a better look at it.

"Triple Alliance?"

Blinking slowly, her mouth formed an 'o' shape as she realized she had used a less known historical reference, "Um, the Aztec Empire."

"Oh,"

Kai and Ray shared a look with one another before watching as she squinted at the stone in an effort to read it, "Well, what does it say?"

"It's a warning of some kind…?" She answered Ray as she frowned deeply at the inscribed symbols – though her answer came out more as a question.

Kai frowned, "A warning?"

"Possibly…The Aztec language is a similar dialect to an ancient Mexican language called _Nahuatl_ – which is technically why it differs from a lot of the other Spanish dialects you see. But…"

"But?"

"It isn't gonna directly translate from Nahuatl to modern Spanish, which is why I need to figure out what it says so I can translate it into a dialect I can jump from."

Ray frowned, "You can speak 16th century Spanish?"

"It's not too hard when you've spent most of your life around it." Ignoring the stricken look on the Neko-jin's face and the confused look on the Russian's, Mykie continued to figure out what the block said. " _Achtotipa…ahquihuan…tayekana…_ " She began muttering words that neither Kai or Ray could catch, but after a moment the Russian frowned deeply.

"What the hell does that mean?"

After a moment Mykie managed to translate it, "Before those who continue ahead, one must prove himself worthy. Go left and find the temple, there they will go to ring their misfortune. Go right and find the temple and there they will find a passage – inside it will be what is sought. Those who do, will find Heaven's arch and to it the key to the Spirit World in the lair of _Itzpapalotlcihuatl_."

"Who?"

" _Itzpapalotlcihuatl_ ," came her fast answer, "she was their goddess of sacrifice."

"So, we need to find the _lair of the goddess of sacrifice_ before we're able to find anything else." Ray frowned, "Does it say anything about what we'll find when we get there?"

"No," She answered with a shake of her head, "But I'm going to copy this down just in case we need it for later."

Kai stepped forward to look at the large stone, briefly noting her quick accuracy with her drawing and being moderately impressed by her attention to detail – she had to have an excellent eye for detail in order to do her job he supposed before returning to the stone and taking a close look at it for himself. The stone was clearly limestone from what he was able to immediately pick out just by looking and for the time period that it was carved would have made chipping away at the surface a project of labor and patience. Running his hand over the small caverns of the carving he frowned as his fingers hit a loose stone, looking closer he noticed that if it were to pushed it would fall back into the indentation to make the trail smooth once more. Briefly noting she had said the right was the correct path, Kai immediately looked to the left side of the carving and noticed another smaller stone that looked identical to the one on the right.

"Hey check this out," Kai motioned to the woman slightly behind him and putting her notebook back into the strange hip holster-like bag and stepping forward she noticed what he was looking at. "It looks like a button of some kind…"

"Yeah…well let's find out what it does."

Ray's brows furrowed, "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Well, in my experience, you press everything and see what happens," Mykie grinned before pressing the stone into place – Kai and her both stepping back away from the stone as it shuddered and pieces of the stone fell away and formed a new set of images.

"How is that possible?"

"The Aztecs and other people of Mesoamerica were _way_ ahead of their time as far as inventions were concerned," Mykie answered Kai's rhetorical question as she examined the stone, "In some cases they were more advanced than the Europeans…well most cases actually, and certainly cleaner."

Ray frowned thoughtfully, "It looks like a map…"

Immediately Mykie descended upon it and crouched down so the boys could see over her as she attempted to read the inscription. Kai's eyes also followed where her fingers rested and he frowned, immediately recognizing the name scrawled after the 16th century roman letters, "That's Magellan's signature."

" _Do not trust in a fool's errand for the light of God shines in many places at once – the four winds are the key_ …Ferdinand Magellan, huh." She hummed in thought before briefly pulling her notebook back out and copying the new information, Kai watching clinically as she drew connections between her first drawing and the new one. Snapping the book closed she turned to the two of them and smiled, "What say you to heading up the path to the temple?"

"What path?"

Mykie smirked as she flicked a side of the statue and watching as the pathway seemed to become much easier to travel, "I hope you guys know how to climb, because it looks like we're gonna have to make our way up the side of the mountain to reach the temple." At Kai's confused look she pulled out a scope she carried on her belt, both men vaguely noting that it was a sniper's scope, and handing it to Kai for him to see. Moving his arm in the right direction she pointed out where the barest hint of a temple could be seen, "There's, apparently, two temples – only one of them is the right one."

"Why go through all the trouble of dividing things up like that?"

Kai turned his gaze briefly to his friend, "Well, if you don't want someone stealing your things…"

"Convince them into going to the wrong place – gotcha."

The woman regarded both of them before rolling her eyes and taking the scope back from Kai and motioning for them to continue down the path. The walk was partially silent save for the rustling of branches as the trio moved them out of the way so they could pass. Ray had briefly started up a conversation with Kai that the Neko-jin had attempted to pull her into, but Mykie was lost in her own thoughts – it was rare for her to get cold feet about a job and especially one that was as interesting as this one, but the bit beast that resided around her neck was unnaturally silent and it was putting her on edge.

Arseni was a strange bit beast – a deep ebony fox-like creature with thick golden bands inlaid into his seemingly thick coat and large cat-like crimson eyes. She wasn't entirely sure what kind of bit beast he was, but his presence was heavy with a more ancient knowledge and she assumed it was because of their current venture that the creature had been so silent.

Shaking her head she sighed to herself. She was so used to doing these types of excursions herself and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about the two men following her and she supposed she blamed that partially on her own abandonment issues. Sully had briefly informed her that he had filled both men in on why her relationship with Zeynap was as strained as it was and she had merely scoffed and walked away from him. In hind sight, perhaps Sully saw something in the two men that she didn't. Her relationship with the Neko-jin was strained at best and she wasn't sure where exactly she stood with the Russian, who spent a great deal of his time silent and quite possibly judging her and that made her uncomfortable.

When Robert had called her saying two of his old friends needed help, she had never expected to see Ray Kon and Kai Hiwatari standing in her boss's office and she admitted that it had certainly surprised her. Never in a million years did she think she would ever meet two world class beybladers, and that was without including Robert and Oliver, but here she was leading the two of them through a jungle and listening to their conversation as little as possible.

It was going to be a long day.

oOo

A full mountain scaled and a few close calls later, Mykie managed to pull Kai up on the ledge that would lead them to the entrance of the temple. Ray stood off to the side with his hands on his knees as he attempted to regulate his breathing, while Kai dusted himself off – his own chest heaving slightly from exertion all the while Mykie stood looking up at the temple with her hands on her hips.

"You know," Ray panted as he peered at the Russian through his bangs, "I'm suddenly starting to miss your old training regimen…"

Kai only snorted in reply, humor twisting his mouth into an amused smirk before turning his mahogany eyes to the treasure hunter to see that, while she was seemingly patient in waiting for them to recollect themselves, she was observing the mouth of the temple clinically with a slight undertone of trepidation. After a moment she sighed deeply and turned to look at the two men who seemed to be sharing in a private joke before looking back up at the temple. The temple itself was smaller than some of the other Aztec structures she had seen and studied while back at the Museum in London – this one standing about six stories high – and while it seemed daunting, she knew if the Bit Portal was, in fact, located within the Ancient South American culture, ten flights of stairs would be the least of their worries. The structure was inlaid into the side of the mountain seeming to blend into the darker rock and would probably be missed if it weren't for the lighter rock that made it.

"What exactly is this place?"

Mykie turned her attention to Ray, noting that he was actually interested and gesturing to the structure before them, "This is probably the shrine that was mentioned on the stone…anyway, we won't know until we look."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kai eyed the smaller woman, "There could be traps…"

Waving her hand dismissively, Mykie smiled, "You seriously need to stop watching so many action movies – this isn't Indiana Jones. Besides, the Aztecs weren't known to booby-trap their temples and pyramids – the Egyptians on the other hand…well their treasures were much more sacred." Clapping her hands together and rubbing them in anticipation she began moving towards the stairs, ignoring the look shared by the two men. The climb was tedious and Mykie immediately cursed the architects of the Aztec Empire for making the stairs so steep and close together and forcing the woman to keep her hands on her thighs in order to be able to push herself up between each step. A glance behind her made her feel a little better to see that Kai and Ray were having their own struggles – the much taller Russian leaning forward as far as he could without crawling as his height and the pull of gravity seemed to affect him more than Ray who was implementing the same climbing method as she was with his hands on his knees and his body leaned forward. She would have laughed, but she was afraid she'd end up smacking into the stairs or losing her balance. After reaching the final plateau of the steps in front of the entrance, Mykie heaved a deep breath and wiped her brow, the strands of her fringe beginning to stick to the flesh of her forehead and making the strands start to curl – humidity and her wild locks did not get along.

Ray jogged the remaining distance towards her before groaning, "Man I'm either seriously out of shape or these people had legs like machines."

The Neko-jin's eyes turned to the treasure hunter as she laughed breathily, the man briefly acknowledging Kai's presence on his side – the normally composed Russian looking a bit winded and flushed thanks to the intense sun. Grinning, Mykie sighed, "Yeah well, what can I say…gotta live up to those ancient legs…maybe if I ever go back to honest living I'll make a TV workout segment."

Ray snorted and Kai rolled his eyes and earning a half-hearted shrug from the young woman in reply before they made for the entrance of the structure.

Entering the temple, the three were shrouded in darkness, the only light coming from the archway back outside of the temple. Mykie immediately felt for the lighter she had stolen from Sully before exiting the plane before flicking the track and wincing at the sudden light. Looking around at the floor she soon spotted a torch that seemed to have been discarded and quickly lit it, using the new light to look for other torches.

"Drake…"

She turned, nearly jumping at the intensity of Kai's gaze – the garnet seemingly smoldering in the low light and after a moment she realized why he had called her name. With an eyebrow raised he gestured to the torch in his own hand as if asking her to light it and after a moment of trying to get her brain to function properly she allowed her torch to spark his. Ignoring the odd exchange, Kai turned away from her and looked around – his nose flaring as the scent of the room finally seemed to hit him. Turning his eyes to Ray he noticed the Neko-jin burying his much more sensitive nose into his shirt in an effort to filter the air for himself.

"You alright, Ray?"

"I don't know yet…"

Mykie reached into her pouch before producing a mask with a plastic front and offering it to him, "Here, this will help filter the smell for you."

"Yeah, thanks…" Taking the mask with a grateful nod, Ray quickly fastened the apparatus to his face before taking a deep breath. "Is there a reason you carry respiration masks around with you?"

"Well," Mykie grunted as she took a look around the room, "I had an old friend who once mentioned people like you…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ignoring the slightly offended tone he used, Mykie continued, "You're a Neko-jin right?" When Ray nodded she smirked, "Your people are the closest related peoples to cats and your senses are heightened because of it. Once I figured out that we were dealing with the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica I went out and got a few of those masks. Blood sacrifices were a huge part of the Aztec culture and they often times smeared it on the walls."

Ray's brow furrowed and she briefly imagined his mouth twisting in disgust, "Why though?"

"Every culture has had something that they valued above anything else –" she explained as they headed through the second archway and down a flight of stairs, "for the Romans it was gold, for the Egyptians it was the afterlife and for the Aztecs it was human blood. History tells us that they had reciprocity to the gods and so they believed in frequent thanksgiving to them and gave them the most precious thing they had."

"And that was blood," Kai's deeper voice echoed along the thin passageway and Mykie nearly jumped at the suddenness of it, "Didn't they have other means of sacrifices, like animals?"

"The Aztec culture didn't use animals – hell they were more fascinated by the horses the Spanish had then they had been about creating aqueducts for running water. Besides, they made everything by hand including their causeways that connected their city to the mainland since they were in the middle of a lake," Sighing she continued, "anyway, they believed that the gods gave their blood to give them life and so only human life would suffice…the Mayans were one of the only tribes in Mesoamerica that never used human sacrifice."

"What about the Inca?"

"They didn't practice human sacrifice as much as the Aztecs did, but they believed strongly in child sacrifices."

Mykie imagined Ray cringing, however it was impossible to see given the small hallway they stood in forced them into a single-file line. With a sigh she pointed her torch forward and towards the ground in case there were any traps – though she didn't expect there to be many as she had mentioned to Kai, it was the Egyptians who preferred traps over the Aztecs. After a few moments, Ray's muffled voice sounded behind her.

"So, what else do you know about the culture?"

Mykie's brow arched, "Which one?"

"Well you keep mentioning the Aztec culture…how do you know this place is even Aztec in origin?"

"It's the carvings."

Mykie's brow arched higher.

"Really?"

Kai nodded from behind his old friend, "The Mayans, Incas and Aztecs had similar artwork and craftsmanship, but they had their distinct differences."

"How do you know?" Ray inquired as he looked at the Russian over his shoulder, "I mean, they never taught us that in school."

The duel-toned man only shot his friend a bemused look, "I didn't learn it in school, Ray."

"Oh…"

Mykie, while intrigued, wisely kept her comments to herself. It had been the most the older man had said in the last day and she feared making a comment about how talkative he was being would make him clam up once more. If she had learned anything about the man in the last few days it was that he didn't speak unless he felt it necessary and when he did it was usually profound…or an insult of some kind. However, he seemed to be much more talkative with Ray which led Mykie to believe that he didn't speak often unless he was comfortable with the person and she could easily understand his more introverted tendencies.

Suddenly the small hallway turned into a larger room and after quick observation, Mykie noticed a braser in the center of the room. After a moment's hesitation, she pressed her fingers to the lip of the metal to find it still wet and after a moment she raised her fingers to her nose and frowned, "Oil?"

"What?" She nearly jumped when Kai's voice seemed to echo next to her and she quickly looked up at him and offered her hand. Sniffing her fingers he frowned, "They must have used it in order to keep the braser lit…"

"Huh," she grunted before frowning up at the Russian as he pushed her back with surprising gentleness as he lowered his torch into the liquid, both watching as the room suddenly lit up and illuminating the walls. "Holy…shit…"

"What the hell is this?"

Kai's eyes followed the trail of fire as it illuminated the display and he frowned in disgust. Long wooden pikes ran above the rings of fire surrounding the circular room, appearing almost as racks, and along each pike were skulls that hung at different levels depending on where they were impaled. Turning his eyes to Ray he made sure the man was alright before turning his eyes to Mykie to see that the treasure hunter seemed a little more than desensitized to the image than he had believed her to be.

"It's a ritual room…there weren't many Aztec leaders who did things like this, but if it was during the reign of Ahuizotl then it makes a little more sense…" She frowned, "He was the eighth ruler of the Empire and thrived during a golden age. He held one of the largest sacrifices in Aztec history and was a mastermind on the battle field…he was known to do this to his enemies and those who were sacrificed."

"Whoa…guys come look at this!"

Mykie turned and quickly made her way to where Ray stood, his golden eyes transfixed on an image embedded into the stone. The image was of a creature with a dog-like face and a sleek body, a long tail seemingly wrapped around it with a hand on the end and hands on each of its legs. After a brief look at it, the treasure hunter frowned deeply. "It's an Ahuizotl…"

"What?"

"Ahuizotl was said to be named after the Aztec myth. It was a beast that was described to be a cross between a hound and an otter-like creature with a fifteen foot tail with a hand on the end that was used to drag it's prey under the water to drown them. It was known for liking human flesh."

"That's…cheery…"

"It's honestly giving me the creeps…"

Shaking her head, Mykie looked around the room once more and frowned, "Hey guys; help me with this door."

After a moment of struggling with the structure, the three of them managed to brace it before slinking underneath the heavy door and into a new room. With torches in hand, Kai and Mykie held them higher in an effort to illuminate the room more and Ray grunted from behind his respirator mask.

"What is this place?"

After a brief look around the room, Mykie noticed a few skeletons lying in the corner and she moved towards them, her amethyst eyes observing them with clinical scrutiny before dropping her torch next to her and digging her hands into the remains of one of the figures.

"That's got to be anything but hygienic, Drake."

"There's a book here," She grunted, ignoring as Ray picked up her torch and Kai stood over her in an effort to give her more light. Pulling the book from its confines she frowned, blowing on the cover before looking at the remains. "These men weren't Aztecs…"

"How can you tell?" Kai asked as he looked between her and the remains. "There's no real way to identify them…"

"The helmets," Ray added as he gestured the torch to the one skeleton, "and this one has a chest plate…the natives didn't have armor like this…"

"No, they didn't and besides," She gestured to the book in her hands which was opened to the first page, "the Aztecs had a pictograph system of writing similar to the hieroglyphs you see in a lot of ancient Egyptian pyramids or texts, this is in Spanish."

"Well, what does it say?"

Mykie quirked a brow at the Neko-jin, "Oh, so now you're interested?" She ignored Kai's snort of amusement, her eyes surveying the notebook in front of her, "I'm surprised this damn thing hasn't fallen apart in my hands yet…"

Kai watched as she skimmed the old words, how he wasn't entirely sure as the journal itself was beyond damaged. As soon as she had opened the spine of the old book, dust flew out of it and piled onto the floor – the pages warped and stiff, almost as if they had once been wet and dried and upon looking closer he realized that the book undoubtedly had been soaked with blood. Kai was not squeamish whatsoever, but the idea of touching even dried blood was not something that he found appealing – however Mykie seemed completely unbothered. He watched as her brows pinched and dipped lower over her eyes, a frown twitching at her lips before she turned to look up at them.

"Well, it doesn't say much, but it does tell us where to go and how to pass some of the trials that they seemed to face." Kai and Ray both backed up to allow her to stand, the Neko-jin holding out a hand for her to take and she thanked him briefly before looking around the room. "This room seemed to be an antechamber of sorts – I'd say it was either where the priests would keep their sacrifices or where a warrior or civilian would wait for a trial of sorts."

"Well I think I know what it was for…"

Mykie looked at Kai before following his gaze to a stone slab, pictured on it was a dagger-like object – if she was to compare it to anything it would be a phurba – that seemed to have a halo-like essence behind it. The figures painted next to it were bowing to it and centered next to the dagger was what appeared to be a large gate of some kind with a serpent, phoenix, tiger and tortoise surrounding it.

"It's got to do with this key that the stone mentioned."

Nodding vaguely, Mykie examined the stone and ran her hand over the smooth surface, frowning when her fingers hit an edge centered in the dagger. Pressing it she nearly jumped when the stone door on the opposite side of the room slid open and nearly gave Ray, who had been standing right next to it, a heart attack. Shaking her head to dislodge her amusement she smiled widely, "Looks like we're onto something boys."

"Yeah, but what?"

Shrugging the woman moved towards the now opened door, "No idea, but I have a feeling things are about to get interesting."

Kai and Ray looked at one another before the Neko-jin sighed, "Why does that not make me feel better?"

"Because you've got self-preservation skills that we just don't have."

"Shut up, Kai."

The Russian shrugged, though an amused smirk continued to twitch at his lips as he followed after the eager treasure hunter leaving Ray to trail behind him with a dejected sigh. It looked like he was going to have to throw away all of the senses that were screaming at him not to pass the door and he gripped Driger's blade tighter in his fist from where the blade sat in his jacket pocket. If Kai noticed, he didn't say anything – but Ray knew that his friend was beginning to get that high he got when he was interested in something and now that he thought of it, Kai hadn't really seemed this happy in a while and it made him sigh deeply to himself that his friend didn't have less risk-taking hobbies. Maybe he could convince the Russian to take up crochet – there was never any harm there. The image that immediately popped into his mind had the cat-like man snorting into the mask he wore earning a confused look from the Russian at the weird muffled strangling noise that had come from him. Waving a hand flippantly in a gesture he was fine he nearly laughed again after Kai turned back around.

The trio wound their way through the passageway, Mykie taking point with Ray taking up the rear and while Kai didn't necessarily like being in the middle he knew it was the best spot to be in when traversing old places. He was in the optimal spot to pull either the treasure hunter or the Neko-jin out of the way in case they sprung a trap or if the old passageways gave way and that suited him just fine. Though Mykie had placated him about the Aztecs not necessarily being trap happy, Kai didn't trust the old catacomb especially since it was supposed to be guarding something.

Mykie's mind was completely alert as she observed the pathway and the markings on the walls around them. This was the kind of high she lived for and she had always been connected to history in some way, shape or form and she supposed she had her father to thank for that passion. Shaking her head to rid herself of the thought of her father, she refocused herself as the pathway opened up into another room. This room was much larger than it should have been for the era the structure was built, the walls smoothed and arching high to a ceiling that had to stand easily two stories high. The room itself was decorated with different stone columns, each with an image engraved with an image that centered in the middle. The floor was tiled in different stones, some that had images and some that were absent of any markings. Mykie took this all in with a critical eye and, placing her hands on her hips, she frowned.

"What is this place?"

Brushing her fringe out of her face she frowned, "Not sure…to be completely honest with you. If I were to guess it was a chamber used to store things, but I could be completely wrong."

Kai rolled his eyes as he looked around the room, watching as Ray shot the treasure hunter a deadpanned look – one she either missed or ignored – before turning his eyes to look at the only female in their group. He didn't know why he watched her so closely, perhaps it was because he didn't fully trust her or because she seemed completely different than the woman they had met back in London. Now that he truly thought on it, Mykie couldn't be a native to England at all as she had no lilt of an accent to her soft alto – in fact, her accent sounded exclusively American, perhaps with a more urban intonation - it wasn't strong, but he could detect it. Though as he looked closer at her, he could only describe her features to be more Arab – perhaps even more accurately Egyptian. Shaking his head he watched as she ran her hand over one of the pillars before looking down and frowning, her head snapping back up to the pillar she stood at before reaching into her bag and pulling out the notebook they had found not fifteen minutes before on the corpses of what was once Spanish soldiers.

"It's a puzzle…" He heard her mutter before she stepped away from the columns and looked around the room once more. He directed his attention around the room as well, noticing another braser centered on the left hand side of the entryway they had just passed. Using his torch, he lit the liquid, backing away as the fire surged across the surface and illuminated the room in a warm glow and it was then he noticed the different pulleys that seemed to connect to the columns – each pulley was connected to an apparatus that looked like a lever system and he frowned deeply to himself.

Mykie looked around for a few moments longer, her eyes straying back to the old book in her hands before looking up again at Ray's call. Jogging over to him she looked at what he stood in front of and frowned slightly.

"What does it say?"

"Four winds…four gods…he who is worthy must walk between the road of sunset and night."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Mykie frowned to herself as she attempted to figure out the riddle, her eyes trailing around the illuminated room and the images that adorned the columns – that she now realized were suspended and attached to the pulleys around the room; the images resting at the top – and the tiles that held similar images on the ground around the room.

"The serpent," she pointed to the image in question, "the phoenix, the tortoise and the tiger…" Her eyes scanned the room, briefly noticing the compass-like emblem on the ground, "I got it!"

"Mind sharing with the class?"

Mykie regarded Kai's deadpanned comment with a bright smile, otherwise unperturbed with his lack of enthusiasm before pointing to each column that held an images she had mentioned (as there were other columns with different images on them as well) and pointing at the images on the floor.

"The four sacred beasts – the serpent, phoenix, tortoise and tiger – have to go on their coinciding direction. Ray, go over to those pulleys on that side of the room, Kai, the other set – I'll take this one." The two men shared a look before begrudgingly doing as they were told and moving to the pulleys that Mykie had pointed out. "Okay, Ray you're first. The column with the serpent is the first one we have to move…"

"Why?"

"Four winds, four gods – the riddle refers to the seasons and their corresponding gods or beasts. The first season is the season of Spring, then Summer, Fall and finally Winter – the serpent is the Aztec god _Xipe Totec_ , who was lord of the East. He'll be followed by _Huitzilopochtli_ , lord of the South or the phoenix, _Quetzalcoatl_ , lord of the West: the tiger and finally, _Tezcatlipoca_ , lord of the North: the tortoise. The seasons correlate with the elements that each god represents; air, fire, earth and water, but that's not the relevant part of this riddle."

"Well…if you say so…"

"Let's just hope your riddle doesn't spring a trap."

"Frankly, Hiwatari, the solving of the riddle might spring a trap too – but like I told you the Aztecs weren't really known to set traps. Even then this is only the first part of the riddle."

Kai rolled his eyes, waiting for Ray to move his respective column over the corresponding tile and slowly lowering it. The tile slid into place into the floor and after a heartbeat of tense anticipation on his part, nothing happened. He briefly looked to the treasure hunter to see that the column she stood next to was the phoenix, "You have the phoenix column, Drake."

"Right."

He watched as she repeated the same process that Ray had before she looked around and nodded to him. Looking up he noticed he had the tiger, noting that Ray had moved to the final pulley to move the tortoise column into place. As Ray's tortoise column fell into place after his he braced himself as the room seemed to quake. His insults that he planned to toss at the treasure hunter died on his tongue when he realized that the only thing that had changed in the room was the appearance of suns and moons in between each archway.

Mykie frowned as she looked around the room, " _He who is worthy must walk the road between sunset and night_ …" Immediately her eyes snapped to the different arches located around the room and noticing each had another image next to them. The images were of the different phases of the sun and moon respectively, the cycle between day and night. Quickly her eyes found the archway that related immediately to the riddle and stepped towards it. Standing before the archway she looked around the stonework in an effort to find a hidden switch before stepping back and frowning and instead she ran her hand over the symbol that represented the setting sun. Pressing in only slightly she realized that they had give and turned to Ray and Kai. "Hey guys over here!"

Ray stopped next to the treasure hunter and looked at the two engravings, "This is it?"

"Road between sunset and night," She nodded before gesturing to the symbol of the sunset, "I think we need to push these at the same time. I'm sure they open the doorway that we need to take." As Ray stood before the sunset image, Mykie took the position next to the image of night and looked over at him, "On three…One…two…three!"

As the images fit into the wall, the other emblems rotated and changed and as the pathway opened before them another image appeared above the doorway. Mykie and Ray had both stepped back to where Kai had been standing and all three looked up at the doorway. "What image is that, Drake?"

Mykie glanced at the Russian before her eyes flicked back to where the image rested, her mind shifting through each god or goddess and the correlating images before she realized which of the Aztec gods it was. Swallowing she frowned, " _Mictlantecuhtli_ …he's the Aztec god of the underworld…"

"And what's so special about him?"

Mykie ignored Kai's question, instead she reached into her bag and pulled out two respiration masks, one for Kai and the other for herself. Kai caught the tossed mask deftly, frowning in confusion at the grim expression on her face. After fitting it to her face, Mykie turned back to him, " _Mictlantecuhtli_ was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld since he was their ruler. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple. Since they have a whole chamber seemingly dedicated to him, I'd rather not take any chances."

"Well this day just keeps getting better," Ray sighed as he shook his head, "How much further do you think we need to go?"

"Well the temple itself is the temple honoring the goddess of sacrifice, Itzpapalotl…so, with any hope, not too much further."

Kai snorted behind his mask, "How do you figure that?"

"Well, since we're now seemingly taking the path to the underworld my hope is there won't be too many more puzzles."

Ray turned his golden eyes to Kai and frowned, "I don't like the feeling of this Kai…not even a little bit." With a deep sigh, the Neko-jin followed after the Russian and treasure hunter. The trail wound further into the temple and he made note of the barrels that lay scattered in different places before they came to another chamber. This chamber made Ray's skin crawl and even with the respirator he could smell the stench of death and suddenly he was thankful for Mykie's warning, despite the lurching of his stomach. Glancing at his two companions, Ray noted that the two of them seemed to be suffering as well, despite their less acute senses. "So, what now Mykie?"

"Take a look around and see if you can find anything." She called back as she ducked around a small corner in a room, her eyes scanning the walls. Ray sighed, shrugging at Kai who looked at him, before looking around the room in hopes of finding a clue of something. Mykie brushed her fringe out of her face, kneeling next to the remains of what she assumed were Aztecs if she were to go based on the remains of cloth wrapped around the hip bones. Upon a closer look, she noticed what appeared to be an amulet of some sort around the neck of the skeleton with the headdress. Gently she lifted it off of the skeleton's neck and while she normally wouldn't care about disrupting age old remains, something told her to be cautious and she chalked it up to Kai's paranoia in regards to traps. Shaking her head she held the amulet in her hand and felt it's weight, "Well, what could this be to my decomposing friend?"

"Drake."

She looked up at the Russian's call to see him standing in front of a strange apparatus. As she came to a stop next to him she quickly observed before looking at the amulet in her hand, "What do you say that this is supposed to be a key to unlock a door?"

Kai snorted, "I'd say that it sounds too easy."

"Oh ye of little faith," She smirked before fitting the amulet into the open space, pressing the trinket into place and stepping back as the room shifted and while it didn't unlock another door, the lighting in the room had changed – the images, while being macabre and gloomy, changing to reveal a much more vivid sense of death and the once slightly bright room seemed to deepen into a darker more sinister lighting. Mykie turned as a platform appeared from the floor and she frowned at it and the bowl that was centered in the middle. "Well, that's not what I was expecting…"

"Oh and what was that?"

"Not an altar that's for sure," she remarked with a slow drawl as she leveled the Russian with a deadpanned look. Ignoring his glare she stepped closer to the altar and looked down at the inscription that had been carved into the altar – a dish sat in the middle, the stone seemed to glow red in the dark light, but in the center of the dish was what seemed to be a slot forming a diamond. Ignoring the slot, her eyes scanned the images once more, "The inscription's hard to make out, but…This symbol – I've seen it before." Without waiting for the two men to comment, Mykie pulled out the notebook they had found on the skeletons of the Spanish soldiers, leafing through the pages. "Well…that's not entirely what I had been expecting…"

"Why what's it say?"

The treasure hunter met Ray's inquisitive gaze with furrowed brows, her mouth hidden by her respiration mask, "Well…roughly it translates to human heart – which I can only assume means that this altar would be used for sacrifice and since I don't plan on killing either one of you for your heart this is going to be tricky to pull off."

Kai frowned behind his mask, "And how do you expect to pull that off?"

"I don't know yet…look around again and see if you can find anything that we could use."

"Well it'd probably be a weight equivalent right?"

Mykie looked up at the Neko-jin, "It's a possibility…"

"So, we replicate a human heart in order to make a counterweight and then take the key or whatever and get out of here."

Kai hummed thoughtfully, "It could work. But it'd have to be close if not exact…"

"A human heart weighs, at max, ten ounces for man and eight for women."

"I'm not even gonna ask how you knew that off the top of your head…"

She shot the Russian a wry look, "Stick around more often, I'm sure I'd surprise you."

"So, we need to find something that's ten ounces…"

"Seems to be that way," Mykie nodded to Ray's statement before looking around the room. It took the trio what seemed like forever before Ray called the other two over to him, his eyes on a small cylinder-like vase that seemed to be about right as it wasn't too heavy at all. After a few moments of tense silence, the boys watched as Mykie set the vase on the center bowl – the bowl dipping and locking into place before flipping over to reveal an empty slot. "That's it?"

"What was supposed to come out?"

"It was supposed to be a phurba-like dagger that's supposed to act as the key." Sighing irritably she pulled her book back out and flipped through the pages before groaning.

Kai frowned, "What is it?"

"The dagger's not here…"

" _What_!?"

She glared at him in response, "You heard me. Magellan must have gotten to it and took it with him, listen to this: _The Captain seemed wary – he had not wanted to take the key with him, but he would have no sooner let it fall into the wrong hands then leave it in that Godforsaken shrine…_ That's all that's legible, but it's got to be somewhere else."

"Oh yeah, and where would that be?"

"If he took it with him it's possibly buried with him."

"Well that doesn't help us now does it!?"

Ray looked around the room as it was suddenly bathing itself in an eerie red glow that immediately had his senses twisting with dread, "Uh…guys?"

"Well what do you want me to tell you!?"

"That we'd be that much closer to getting out of here and going home!"

"Well if you wanna go home fine by me!"

"Hey…guys…"

"Oh no you don't, we don't go home without this mess being solved and I'll be damned if I let some two-bit treasure hunter solve my problems for me!"

Mykie snarled, "No one told you to come to me, asshole! You've been nothing but ungrateful since the beginning of this little excursion and I'm sick of your holier-than-thou attitude!"

"Grow up, Drake!"

"I will when you stop wearing your ass as a hat!"

" _GUYS_!"

" **What!?** "

Ray had backed away from the altar as it began to gurgle and fill with water, the liquid spewing over the edges and beginning to coat the floor completely unbeknownst to the two arguing adults. With exasperation he pointed out the problem and jumped when all the doors in the room slammed shut and the water that had been steadily flowing from the altar seemed to surge forward.

"Oh the _Aztecs didn't set traps in their temples_ ," Kai growled, his voice mocking as he quoted her earlier during the day earning a snarl from the shorter woman as she immediately made for the other side of the chamber in an attempt to find something to get out of the steadily flooding room. "I knew we shouldn't have listened to you."

"Well I didn't hold you at gun point, Hiwatari, you could have stayed outside if you were so worried."

"Can you two _knock it off_ for a few minutes and focus!?" Ray snarled as he raced to the other side of the room as best he could in the currently knee-high water in an effort to help Mykie open the door, "Seriously, argue when we're not in danger of drowning!"

Mykie threw her weight into the door, her hands searching the stone for any type of lever in order to open the door – the water rushing around her legs and nearly knocking her over with the force. "It must have been the wrong weight," She commented suddenly. "This temple honors a woman, so it should have been the weight of a female's heart and not a male."

"Yeah that doesn't help us now."

She threw another glare at the Russian as she ripped her mask from her face and just as she was about to retort another rush of water entered the chamber and nearly took the smaller woman off of her feet. At the last moment she managed to catch herself on Ray's shoulders before nodding to the man and shifting in an effort to look around – her eyes soon finding a large pile of barrels. Just as she was fumbling around for her bag another large current knocked her off her feet – the large influx of water in the small room made the level rise up the walls.

In her moment of disorientation she didn't feel the hand grab her arm and pull her up in the water, her head breaking surface and her lungs immediately expanding in an effort to pull in more oxygen. Looking to her left she noticed Kai still holding her arm, clearly the one who had pulled her above water level, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to calculate how much more time they had before the water rose too high for them to be able to breathe.

"Any ideas?"

Kai ignored as Mykie continued sputtering, his eyes turning to Ray, "You didn't find any way to get that door open?"

"No, it's locked tight – we're not getting out of here in the conventional way."

Just as Mykie was about to voice her suggestion another rush of water cut her off, hitting her face and forcing her to sputter once more. Kicking her legs she pressed herself against the ceiling, Kai and Ray next to her. "I have an idea – it's a long shot, but I'm hoping it'll work."

"We don't have much time, I'm all ears."

Kai only nodded his consent and she took a deep breath, "In my bag is a six shooter I took from the biplane as a precaution – there are barrels in the corner of the room, though they may have gotten displaced in the water."

"Fire the gun at the barrels and hopefully blow up a wall!"

"Or us," Kai, ever the realist, commented – his eyes piercing the amethyst of Mykie's eyes. "It's too risky."

"Well we don't have much of a choice."

"I say we do it," Ray commented from Mykie's other side, "It honestly sounds better than drowning to death."

"We're gonna have to work together in order to organize the barrels and anchor them."

"It's gonna take too much time," Kai frowned, "I'd say we have a minute of air left before we're completely underwater."

"Well then looks like we're gonna have to move fast – you're both athletes so this shouldn't be too hard for you," Mykie drawled before looking at the distance between the top of the water and the ceiling. "I'll find a weak point, you guys try and get as many barrels to me as possible – I'll do the rest." Before Kai could voice his displeasure, Mykie frowned at him, "You have to trust me."

After a tense few seconds of silence, the Russian nodded and they each got to work. Mykie took a deep breath, the boys doing removing their respirators and doing the same, before diving into the water. The water itself was murky, but she was able to feel along the wall and she would have cheered if she could when she found a weakness in the wall. She almost jumped when she felt a tug on her arm and looked up to see Ray above her with Kai floating next to him, four barrels roped between them. Mykie grabbed the barrels and quickly tied them to the holdings of the wall before motioning them to get away. Tugging out her gun from her bag she aimed, positioning herself behind a small pillar and hoping to whatever deity was listening that this would work. Her finger squeezed the trigger and for a moment it was silent before a deafening boom sounded under the water as the wall gave and the water immediately began to rush out of the room taking Mykie and the other two men with it.

The three sputtered and choked as the water finally settled around them and after a few moments Mykie began to laugh breathlessly earning her two different looks of incredulity. After a few moments her laugher seemed to die down before she looked at the two men, "I can't believe that actually worked!" Her snickering then turned back into full blown laughter as she locked eyes with Kai. Ray and Kai turned to look at one another before the Neko-jin began to laugh earning a glare from the Russian. Kai's hair, which naturally seemed to hold gravity-defying volume, hung limply around his head and making his features appear more pronounced. "Your face!" She finally managed to choke out before pushing herself up and brushing her bangs out of her face once more.

Chuckling, Ray stood with help from Kai who seemed to be wiping his face of the water almost self-consciously before patting the Russian on the back, "Don't think too much on it Kai, we all look dragged through hell."

Kai only grunted, but Ray knew it was the most he would get as a reply. Though Ray knew Kai would never admit it, the Russian felt naked without his usual face paint because it hid the few scars that he did have from his youth though Ray was never able to tell if the scars came from his time in the Abbey or even before that when he had been given to his grandfather and Ray never asked. Ray knew where he could push Kai and how far and knew that the Russian's past was delicate at best otherwise he wouldn't have poured so much of his effort into closing Biovolt and making sure the families and children affected were so well taken care of. Ray noticed it more when Kai thought there was no one looking at him and his concern for his friend had grown over the last few years – Kai had begun to try and fix people in an effort to make himself feel fulfilled and that in and of itself concerned the Neko-jin greatly. Maybe Ray could find the Russian a girl friend to dote after – immediately he shook his head of the thought and instead tried to think of the meal he was going to have as soon as they got back to wherever they were going next.

"C'mon this way!"

"How do you know?"

Mykie turned back to the Russian and smirked, "Well the fact that there's literally light at the end of the tunnel here is a pretty good indicator."

Ray rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the smile that twitched at his lips at her almost child-like enthusiasm. The two men followed after the treasure hunter as she jogged forward, thankful to finally have a way out of the old temple ruin. Mykie normally didn't mind going into places that had a certain amount of danger, but this temple unnerved her and she couldn't figure out why it was putting her so far off. Now that she thought of it, she felt distant to the whole job and normally there was a certain amount of enthusiasm that came with the idea of running around old ruins and discovering forgotten pasts. She was already an acclaimed archaeologist as far as the lawful world was concerned and she happily took the money that they offered her to speak on different cultures and forgotten civilizations. As much as she liked running around in the dark underbelly of the world, she wasn't opposed to an honest living, but it was something she had never considered.

As the sun hit her face she took a deep breath of the fresh air and she sighed happily. She briefly heard Ray and Kai stand behind her as they too exited the temple, but she cared little for their presence as she took in the appearance of the island spread out before her. Briefly she noted they had been on some of the upper floors of the temple and her mouth twitched in a slight frown as she noticed a rock just off to the side with carvings.

Ray and Kai watched as she crouched down in front of the stone after wiping it away, her fingers lingering on the surface before she sighed once more, "Hey guys…I don't think we're out of the woods just yet."

"Why do you say that?"

She turned to look at them, though she remained in her crouched position before gesturing behind them, "The wall we just came out of, look at the scorch marks." As they turned to do as she said she continued, "The wall was blown out, most probably the Spanish if they ran into the same problems we did. I doubt the Aztecs would have allowed them to leave with the phurba and so they would have needed a contingency plan. This rock here indicates a pathway leading further into the mountains."

Ray frowned, "More caves?"

"No, pathways along the mountain," She shook her head, "They wouldn't have had the tools to carve into a mountain face. This temple's an exception because they built it into the mountain, but unless there was already a cave system, they wouldn't have been able to do it."

"So…we keep going?"

"Looks like it."

Kai frowned, running his hand through his damp hair and shrugging finally as he locked eyes with the treasure hunter, "Well what're we waiting for?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hi guys! So new and uploaded chapter for you ;) I refinished this one and _had_ to put it up because this is where we begin our whole whirl wind adventure! I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it and here we see Mykie's dynamic with Ray and Kai a bit more intimately. Different personalities are absolutely going to clash, but they still manage to work together. And just a note: this story did draw influences from all those action movies and games (see my disclaimer in both the prelude and chapter 3?) so I'll be poking fun at a lot of those instances where the characters would definitely not make it out of unless they had some sort of outside help so please keep that in mind while reading this story ;3

Also, I think I like doing the author's note down here at the end. Do you like it, too or would you prefer me to put it up at the beginning?

A special thanks to ranjan597 for her lovely reviews! I know I responded to you already in a PM, but I'll update here as well, thank you so much for reading and enjoying the last few chapters and I sincerely hope you continue to enjoy! And trust me, there will absolutely be a time where Mykie and Kai will be forced to trust each other, but it's gonna be a while to build up on since they've only just met and Kai isn't one to trust easy let alone Mykie ;) Thanks again for reading girl!

Again as I mention in all my notes, reviews are awesome and strongly encouraged, but not mandatory for me to update. Even still, I'd love to hear what you all think of the story thus far so drop me some feedback!

Until next time!

xoxo  
Eirlys


	6. Chapter 5

**Coming Home  
Chapter 5: A Daring Escape**

The trio walked along the mountain path and under Mykie's advisory they stayed as close to the mountain wall as they possibly could. They were silent for the most part as they traveled, Ray and Kai taking in the sights that lay just off of the mountain pass and while both were impressed by it, they made sure to heed the treasure hunter's warnings of loose stones.

"How much further do you think we need to go?"

Mykie looked back at them over her shoulder briefly before turning her eyes forward once more, "I'm not sure." She looked down at her watch and then the walkie on her hip and frowned at it. Sullivan hadn't been in contact with them at all and though she would never admit it to the two men behind her, she was worried for the old thief. Shaking her head to refocus herself she turned her eyes to the path ahead, noticing a steep incline that seemed to lead them back into the forests. "Looks like we're going back down…watch your step."

The trek was silent for the most part as they made their way back down the mountain and into the jungle below. It didn't take them long to find the next marker and soon they found themselves standing in front of another stone with another split road.

"You know, I can't say I'm excited to see another one of these."

"Me neither," Mykie agreed as she brushed her hand against the stone. "This one isn't Aztec though…"

"What is it?"

Ray and Kai shared a look as the younger woman immediately began ripping down vines and foliage in an effort to see the stone better. After the plant-life was removed, Mykie stumbled back to where the Russian and Neko-jin stood, her eyes wide and her jaw slack with her stupor. The lines in this marker were much more defined and depicting a series of trails with multiple images of Aztec deities, as well as images of people worshiping them. With eyes following the trails, Mykie frowned when she noticed a small cluster of animals in the further corner of the slab: a tiger, tortoise, snake and bird and she realized quickly enough that it was depicting the same images they saw in the temple and it was rather cut and dry as to which way they needed to go. "It's another Aztec marker…probably marking the temple we just left, but…"

"What're these scratches over here?"

Kai moved to where Ray was looking and frowned, "It was probably made by the Spanish."

"No weird riddles or anything…"

"Doesn't seem to be," He nodded before pointing it out to Mykie, "what do you think?"

"The text scrawled lightly at the bottom is Romanized letters, not hieroglyphs, so definitely Spanish not Aztec, but it's hard to make out." Mykie stated after a few moments of silence before pulling out her notebook from her bag and ripping a page out and resting it against the stone. Still crouched, she ran her pencil over the paper, the two men watching as the script became easier to see. With a smirk she looked back at the two men and raising a brow in question, "I dunno about you boys, but I'm willing to keep following this…maybe we can find out where the key was taken."

"Well what does it say?"

With a brow raised she turned towards the Russian, "It says: continue down the mountain to the river with the falls…roughly, anyway."

Ray immediately turned to regard Kai, as his argument with the treasure hunter in the water-trapped chamber had raised more questions to his feelings on the trip, and quirked a brow in his direction. It took the Russian a few moments of silence to meet his eyes and when he did, Ray knew his answer. Turning back to Mykie, the Neko-jin nodded in affirmation before offering her a small smile, "After you."

"Right…" She paused long enough to look between the two men suspiciously before turning and continuing down the path indicated on the stone. The argument between her and the Russian was still fresh and while it hurt, she wasn't going to let it get to her if they wanted to continue the trip. Maybe she'd consider leaving them in London before the next leg of their journey so she could get her job done and get home.

" _Hey kid, how you doin' down there_?"

Mykie smirked as she unclipped her walkie and brought it up to her lips, "What's the matter Sully, afraid you're missing all the action?"

" _Pft, yeah right…Listen be careful down there – I had to move because the authorities reported me just sitting in the middle of the Pacific..._ " Sullivan scoffed, " _Turns out you can't just park a plane wherever you want._ "

"Well it could be because you never got the permits like you were supposed to," She laughed, "and will do…just try not to get arrested okay? I'm not gonna be able to get to the mainland to bail you out."

" _Your sarcasm isn't appreciated, just figured I'd let you know that._ "

"You love me," Mykie snickered into the walkie before looking ahead of her, "Just be ready to pick us up at the edge of the island when I call…we shouldn't be too much longer here."

" _Got it._ "

Slipping the walkie back onto her belt she sighed deeply and continued moving forward. It was silent for a few moments before Ray's voice broke her from her thoughts.

"So you and Sullivan are…what? Family? Business partners…?"

"A little bit of both honestly. We started out on weird terms," She called back to him as they moved in a single-file line. "I was living in Peru at the time and he was a tourist – real high and to do fancy – he made an easy target and so I stole his wallet…figured he didn't need it much."

Ray frowned, "You what?"

"I stole his wallet," She reiterated, unperturbed by his questions, "At the time, Sullivan was on a job for some big-wig collector and it turned out that we were after the same thing."

"And what was that?"

"It was a cipher disk…or mechanism…that was rumored to lead to the gateway that would bring you to the lost city of Lyonesse…Camelot in some stories, depends on the dialect. It's where they say both Merlin's staff and the heart of Excalibur reside. When you put both items together – or so legend goes – the staff will grant the wielder with unspeakable power, even hinting at life eternal. As it turned out the guy only wanted the disk to add to a collection – which, in my experience, means that he meant to find the key in order to use it to find them. Regardless, it wouldn't have done him much good without the proper key."

Kai frowned from behind Ray, the Russian taking the back of the line, "And what would that be?"

"This little bugger," Mykie grinned as she held up the ring that belonged to the old pirate, Sir Francis Drake, "It's been in my family forever – my dad gave it to me when I was a kid and I've never taken it off."

"And what happened to them?"

Mykie chose to ignore the Neko-jin's question and instead continued speaking in hopes of keeping the conversation centered around Sully, "Anyway, he had managed to steal a key to the display cabinet of the guy who owned it at the time and I stole his wallet. After the whole debacle, and I _am_ using that term loosely, he offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. Him and I have been together ever since."

It didn't miss Kai's attention that she had purposely dodged the Chinese blader's question, but he didn't press the matter as there were things about himself he would rather not talk about and this was clearly something she wasn't too keen to share. Shaking his head he met her gaze and he was surprised by the begrudging acceptance there, as if she knew he had seen through her diversion and he only offered her a subtle nod that had her turning her attention back to the road before them. "So, you've been together ever since?"

"Yeah," She seemed to be relived, Kai noted, "Ginny took a quick liking to me when she was a kid so there was no getting out of it by that point. He was stuck with me just as much as I was stuck with him…don't get me wrong, I love the guy like he's some weird parent, but he's a royal pain in the ass."

Ray nodded, a small smile on his face, "So where are you really from?"

"Well if you're asking where I was born, my answer would be Frankenmuth, Michigan. I lived there until I was about eight or nine and then found myself in Peru…then wound up in Cairo a few years later."

"And how is it you know 16th century Spanish so well…?"

"The nuns made sure we knew Latin like the back of our hands," She answered with a small shrug.

"I've only been to Cairo once and that was because we were there for a tournament," Ray commented, easily keeping the conversation between the treasure hunter and himself going and politely ignoring the glare at his back from his former teammate. "It's a nice city…too big for my tastes though…"

" _Nice_ ," she snorted, "Yeah, Cairo is _nice_." Shaking her head, "It's like being in New York City…seven million people is still less than eight million that are said to roam that city."

"Yeah, New York has its own big-city population, but it's different somehow."

Mykie shrugged, neither agreeing or disagreeing before nearly stumbling on some old relics, "Well hello there…" she smiled at the jeweled figure of a leopard or jaguar before pocketing it and standing up straight as she looked around the clearing they now found themselves in.

"So what exactly are we looking for?"

The appreciative look the treasure hunter shot at Ray did not go unnoticed by either men as she turned her eyes and began looking around, the previous line of conversation forgotten, "Try and find another maker…the carvings'll be deeper and more pronounced and'll probably have some sort of Spanish carved in there somewhere."

The three broke away from one another and began looking for a marker that would hopefully lead them to another clue as to where they were supposed to go. Mykie theorized that since the markers were now Spanish and not Aztec they would be able to tell where they needed to go next in order to find the key that would then lead them to the Bit Portal. There was something that was still off to her about the entire operation, but she shook those thoughts away as reluctance to help the two age-old world champions, though she knew that title remained with Tyson Granger thanks to the last tournament they had all appeared in. Mykie had never gotten into beyblading like everyone else she knew had and she had very little remorse for not getting involved with the sport sooner. She only became remotely interested in the creatures inside of the blades when she acquired Arseni. Shaking her head in an effort to refocus herself, something she realized she was doing more of, she returned herself to the task of finding the marker. Grabbing a nearby branch, she began wading into the water and while the water was clear, she wanted to make sure she could test how deep it was with the branch. It didn't take long for the water to reach her chest and after getting a feel for how strong the undercurrent was she pushed off of the river floor and began swimming closer to where the waterfall was.

Kai looked up for a moment, noticing that the treasure hunter had seemingly vanished, his eyes searching around the area for her. It didn't take him long to find her in the water and he sighed in frustration before running a hand through his wild fringe. "Didn't get enough swimming back in the temple, Drake?"

"Nah, just figured I'd get the thousands of years of blood and dust off," She called back with heavy sarcasm lacing her alto, "There's something over here! Looks like we're gonna have to go behind the waterfall!"

"Of course," Kai sighed before making his way to the river's edge and wading into the water. He briefly noted the amused snorting of the Neko-jin behind him and knew that Ray was following him into the water. It didn't take them long to find the perch that Mykie had pulled herself onto as she examined another marker and the two easily pulled themselves out of the river.

"There seems to be a cavern over here," Ray called, having stepped around her small frame and moving further behind the waterfall. Mykie looked up at him and nodded before slowly making her way closer to his position. After examining the mouth of the cave, Ray turned his attention back to her, "Looks like we head inside…"

"Yeah because that worked so well for us before."

"Do you ever have anything _positive_ to say?"

"Hn."

"Yeah," She snorted, "That's exactly what I thought."

"Easy guys, let's just go and check it out…if there's nothing there we'll call Sully and have him pick us up."

Mykie sighed in resignation, "Alright."

Ray then turned his sharp golden gaze to the Russian expectantly and when he grunted in what Ray read as an affirmative answer he nodded to himself before gesturing the treasure hunter to take point once more. Mykie reached into her bag and pulled out a flare stick, lighting it easily and moving deeper into the cave. The trio continued in silence for the most part, more focused on watching where they were going in the slippery cavern and after what felt like a mile of tunnel, Mykie sighed in relief when they hit an open area.

The cavern itself was lit naturally from the opening in the ceiling and it made the woman wonder if it had been intentionally carved out or if nature had run its course in the cavern making the walls smooth to the touch. In the center of the room seemed to be an altar of some sort, but unlike the one in the temple, this one was surrounded by dried herbs and foliage and it made Mykie wonder if this place had been used as an apothecary of some kind – whether by the Spanish or by the Aztecs. The three spread throughout the room in search of anything that could be remotely useful and while Ray found a wall of hieroglyphs and Kai found the remains of some Spanish soldiers, Mykie examined the table in the center of the room where long leather strips seemed to have been laid out and while there were images inlaid into the strips, her attention was brought instead to the old papers that seemed to have been preserved between them.

"What'd you find?"

It took her a moment to process how close the Russian was to her in order for her to not appear startled by his sudden presence, however, a small smirk from him proved he had seen through her bluff and she scowled, "You need a bell." He only offered her a bemused look before she sighed and answered him, "They seem to be letters that were shared between the first mate of Magellan's crew and one of the other soldiers…it's hard to make out despite the effort to keep them preserved…"

Kai, not seeming to care about their closeness, reached around her to take the letters she held in her hands and Mykie resisted the urge to slap him. His mahogany eyes scanned the words carefully before looking up at her, "I can make these out a bit if you want to help me translate it."

"So you want my help now?" Her brow arched high on her forehead, having brushed her fringe to the side after nearly drowning in the chamber earlier, and he snorted. "Alright I give, what can you make out?"

It took the two a good ten minutes before they had the first letter translated and Mykie was actually quite impressed by how fluent he was even without knowing what the words actually meant, however, a knowing look from Ray had the treasure hunter refocusing herself in an effort to ignore the amused smile playing at his lips.

"Sir Pigafetta, we have secured the key and plan to disembark from the island quickly. We should arrive back at the _Trinidad_ just before sun fall with the cargo and what remains of our men. It would be in our best interests to not include this in the official book as the Captain seems concerned with the find. He insists on moving quickly – something the _natives_ said to him no doubt. We lost many of our men traversing the chambers of that godforsaken temple and with it the instructions through. If what the Captain says about the cargo is true, then may God have mercy on us all…signed, Francisco…"

"Who are they?"

Mykie looked up at Kai, not noticing how her nose almost grazed his chin, "Antonio Pigafetta was the scholar asked to accompany Magellan on his trip to find the Spice Islands and was a supernumerary…he was initially asked to go because the King of Spain didn't fully trust Magellan, but was willing to trust him more than Cortés. Francisco…honestly I'm not too sure, but it could possibly be Francisco Albo…he was the only other sailor who kept a logbook about the voyage."

Ray frowned, "Magellan didn't keep his own logbook?"

"Well according to history he didn't, but I doubt a captain would forego having a log of some sort – even if it was to keep his thoughts of the voyage down...So maybe some secret journal of some kind. History can, in fact, be wrong."

"What's the next one say?"

Mykie placed the first letter down before picking up the second and frowning. She and Kai worked quickly to translate the second letter and her mouth twitched into a smile, "Well boys, looks like we have to keep following Magellan's trail!"

"What do you mean?"

"This letter isn't actually a letter but a series of orders given by Magellan for his men – they took the key with them, obvious really, and he had his men cover up everything of them being here…If they went back to the _Trinidad_ then they left with the key."

"So where next then?"

"More than likely somewhere in Southeast Asia, but I'm gonna need more information about Magellan especially since I'm not exactly the leading expert on him."

Kai frowned, "But you know who is."

"Obviously," She smirked, "I'm not employed at a museum for my health, you know."

Ignoring Ray's laugh, Kai rolled his eyes and dismissed the smug look on her face before allowing her to move from the altar and begin back up the tunnel. It was sudden that he found himself being pushed into the wall by the treasure hunter, but any and all joking had fallen from her face and after listening he quickly understood why. In the distance, amplified by the smooth cavern of the waterfall cave, he could hear voices and shouts and with the new sounds any and all enthusiasm that had been surrounding the trio immediately vanished.

"Who the hell are they?"

"I don't know."

"You said this island was deserted."

Mykie glared ahead in an effort to keep her temper even at the accusatory tone in the Russian's voice as she ground the words out from between her clenched teeth, "It is."

"You have to have some kind of idea, Mykie."

The hopeful tone in Ray's voice belayed his anxiousness and she sighed deeply, "I have absolutely no idea…maybe it's someone who's trying to loot the temple."

"That just seems unlikely."

"Well I don't have any good news for you then," She replied bitingly, "I hope you boys know how to fight because if they're armed it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder to get off this island."

Ray and Kai shared a look with one another – Ray's much more panicked where Kai seemed more inconvenienced. Mykie patted herself down in search of anything she could use as a weapon and frowned when she came up short. Moving closer to the mouth of the cave she motioned for Ray and Kai to stand back while she took a look. Just through the waterfall she could make out a few shapes of what she assumed were the intruders to their excursion and after a few shouts she knew immediately that they weren't friendly.

"Spread out! They must be here somewhere!"

The voice was a deep baritone interlaced with a thick accent that missed Mykie's ears, her mind instead working a mile a minute in an effort to make a plan because she had more than her own life hanging in the balance. Shaking her head she frowned, "Better to do this as quietly as possible…"

Wordlessly she crept along the wall, peeking out around the corner once more and making sure no one had stepped along the path that would lead behind the waterfall. Stepping carefully she made sure to not make any sounds that would alert the shadow through the water and after breathing out through her nose she took another breath before reaching through the water and tugging the man backwards through it before twisting her arms and snapping his neck, using his weight against him.

"Holy shit!"

"Did you just _kill_ a man!?"

Mykie rolled her eyes as she patted him down for any weapons before snorting and pointing at his MP40, "I'm sure he was just planning on using that to scratch his ass. If you're not okay with the possibility of needing to take them out then don't and stay back until I tell you it's clear. But I will _not_ have your bullet riddled corpses on my conscious."

Swinging the MP40 onto her back she then patted the guard's body for any more weapons, nodding to herself when she found a Para.49mm and extra ammo. Pocketing her finds she motioned for the two men to follow her and she cursed herself. She should have known that this would eventually lead to a race for some kind of treasure and the fact that she hadn't anticipated it made her angry with herself for her naiveté. After straightening herself back up and ignoring the body she peeked back around the corner of the cave and checked to make sure no one had heard her and the other man's small struggle. Finding nothing, Mykie motioned for Ray and Kai to stay back before sitting herself on the ledge behind the waterfall and slipping into the racing water, allowing it to pull her to the bottom before swimming further out and barely peeking her head out of the water, making sure that the mist at the base of the falls was thick enough to not be seen, before pulling herself to a rock for some more cover. Taking a quick glance at the men searching the area she counted a total of at least seven other men within immediate eyesight and she didn't doubt there were more spread out from the falls in an effort to search for the cavern they had found earlier.

Noticing at least three guards around the area of the water she knew she'd be able to at least pull them into the water and take care of them then and with hardened resolve she ducked under the water once more, and moved to one of her closer targets. She reached up and tugged harshly, the man falling into the water easily and she made quick work of wrapping around him like a python would its prey, snapping his neck to save him from drowning before swimming back to the rock she had been at previously and allowing the man's body to move upstream. She moved quickly, swimming to the next man and repeating the process before slowly poking her head out of the water, her arms treading the water near the shoreline as her eyes swept the area and finding no other men in the immediate area.

Barely pulling herself out of the water she did not expect a man to so suddenly take notice of his comrade's disappearance, a point made abundantly clear when her hair was seized suddenly. With half of her body still in the water and the rest being suspended by the thick strands of her hair, the only thing keeping her hair from ripping out of her scalp was her arms in an effort to evenly distribute her weight. With squinted eyes, more out of pain than anything else, she glared at the burly man who had her hair twisted in his fist.

"So, the little woman is behind this, eh?"

Mykie grunted as he twisted his fist, tugging more of her hair and forcing her to push herself further out of the water in an effort to counter her dead weight, her neck craning with the direction he had tugged her hair. "What's the matter, pal? Afraid of a little water?"

The large man only chuckled wickedly, his other hand coming up and she winced as he set the intimidatingly large bowie knife against her cheek, the serrated edge biting into the flesh, "Little woman should not make jokes when she is in no place to."

Feeling the blood pooling in her cheek and sliding down her face made her stomach roll, but with the adrenaline pumping through her veins at such a fast rate and her mind working a mile a minute she had no time to truly focus on her own discomfort. She was no stranger to hairy situations – it came with her job, but it did little to quell the fear that settled in her chest every time she wound up in these situations. Mykie did not fear death, but she didn't exactly want to die either and so with that thought in mind she couldn't quite stop the words that were already spilling passed her thinned lips, "You see I can't help but make jokes because without jokes there's no fun…didn't get to have fun in Merc school did'ya?" Blinking the man then pressed the blade tighter against her cheek, "Whoa, whoa, whoa there pal! I need this face, y'know!"

"I quickly tire of your impudence little woman."

" _Little woman_ , Jesus at least be creative would you!?"

Mykie cried out as she was suddenly released, the knife cutting her cheek and her body submerging in the water once more. With a few violent kicks she resurfaced taking deep breaths only to see a top spinning along the edge and Kai standing where the mercenary had been moments before with a quirked brow. After a few moments of continued eye contact, Kai snorted and leaned down in an effort to offer her a hand out of the water. Grasping his large hand tightly she planted her feet and pushed as he lifted her out of the water before glancing down at the mercenary and finding him to be merely unconscious.

"You have no self-preservation skills…do you?"

Mykie merely shot the Russian a wry grin, "Sometimes…my mouth likes to move before my brain catches up to it and says: ' _hey wait, this is a bad idea_ '. I blame Sully."

"I'm sure you do," Kai answered with a roll of his eyes before glancing around the area, "Looks like we should get moving again before more of those guys show up."

"Not a bad idea…" She then glanced around, briefly noticing Ray jogging up to them.

"Nice shot Kai!"

Kai only nodded his head to the Neko-jin before catching his blade as it leapt from the ground and in front of the taller man – Mykie watching the move intently before her eyes flickered to the Russian. "You didn't unleash your bit beast by chance did you?"

"No, it wasn't necessary," was his answer as he pocketed the royal blue blade and glancing down at the man behind them, "What about him?"

"Well…I'd search him and see if he has anything useful." She advised as she leaned down and picked up the bowie knife, flipping it in her hand with practiced ease, "Any ammunition, guns or grenades keep with you – you never know when they'll come in handy…meanwhile, I'm getting rid of this nasty son of a bitch."

"You mean the knife right? Please tell me you mean the knife…"

The treasure hunter's brow arched before she flipped the knife once more before snapping outwards, the knife following the movement and burying itself on the other side of the river and up into a tall tree. Turning back to the Neko-jin she shrugged indifferently, "I'm not a cold blooded killer, but that's not gonna be the last time we see him."

Ray blinked, "Yeah…okay."

Shrugging at him once more she turned her eyes to the area before motioning to the two men, "We should go…just keep your eyes peeled and try and be as quiet as possible…if you're seen or get caught don't hesitate to do what you have to."

Kai nodded in reply before looking to his old teammate and raising a brow when he noticed grim resignation on the man's face. He knew Ray would do what he needed to if his life was in danger despite how he truly felt about it, but Kai knew better than to force him to make the decision to take someone's life if need be. Shaking his head he followed after the treasure hunter, noticing that – although she moved like a cat – there was a slight waver to her steps that made him wonder if that mercenary had tugged at her head a little too tightly. No doubt her scalp had to be hurting as the man had had a decent hold on her hair until he had used Dranzer's blade to slice at the man's hand before attacking the brute himself..

"Sully?" Kai looked up, noticing that Mykie had the walkie talkie in her hand – her brows dipped low over her eyes in a tight furrow of what he could only assume was worry. The device let out a sound of static and the woman's scowl deepened, "Sully do you read me?"

"Do you think they found him?"

"I'm hoping they didn't…" Shaking her head she motioned them forward, "Let's go before their friends come looking for them."

"Right."

The treasure hunter nodded before moving forward once more. The three remained in silence in an effort to remain completely undetected and it was something Mykie was more than happy to oblige. The three moved through the large trees of the island with the treasure hunter leading them and with Ray and Kai following almost in step with one another – there was a certain air of unperturbed ease that seemed to fold around the only woman in their small company while the two men were tense and anticipating the worst. Mykie found herself falling back into her old rhythm, the tension leaving her body as adrenaline began to race through her veins and it was a feeling she would never admit gave her a high that no drug could ever accomplish and she supposed with the need for an adrenaline rush, her self-preservation skills normally fell to the wayside.

"Get down!"

Immediately her head ducked into the brush, her eyes sweeping the area and finding the reason for Kai's warning. Four men circled the area, their fingers brushing the triggers of their semi-automatic weapons and their postures tense. It was clear that they were aware that their men had gone missing. _Possibly radioed one of them and didn't get an answer_ , Mykie thought to herself with a frown, _this is gonna be more complicated now…_

Next to her Kai looked at his old teammate to see that the Neko-jin was tense besides him, his muscles taut and his expression like stone. It was clear to him that Ray wanted nothing more than to get off of this island, but with the constant guards his nerves were beginning to fray. Taking a quick glance at the treasure hunter and seeing the calm and cold assessment in her eyes relieved him enough to come up with an idea – ignoring the nostalgia he felt creeping up his spine as he was vaguely reminded of his childhood days in Biovolt. "Ray," He whispered suddenly and earning a glance from the man, "Release Driger's blade and aim at the trees on the other side of the clearing. I'll follow with Dranzer's blade…"

Ray stared at the Russian for a moment before nodding – he trusted Kai enough to not force him to hurt anyone and with a deep breath he reached into his pocket and removed the launcher and blade before setting them up for launch. With amber eyes sharp as flint, Ray released his blade with a mighty tug of the rip cord, the silver blade coming to life immediately and spinning strongly next to him for a moment before shooting around the corner according to Ray's silent command. A moment later, Kai's royal blue blade followed and he briefly noticed how the Russian's entire body seemed to shift with the movements of his blade – a small quirk he noticed when they were teenagers as Kai and Dranzer had always been incredibly in sync with one another when blading.

Mykie watched with interest as the two blades moved in tandem, weaving between the other before darting into two different directions: the silver blade bouncing noisily around the brush and trees on the other side of the clearing, drawing the men's attention; meanwhile the blue blade spun noiselessly in place in the shadows. Glancing briefly to the two men beside her, her eyes flickered back to the blades to see that the distraction had worked and now the blue blade had moved out, using speed she wasn't sure was completely possible as it leapt into the air, using the small rock formation in the center of the clearing as a launching pad before using what looked like parlor tricks in blading to take the larger men in the clearing out. As the last man fell, she couldn't help but blink stupidly before looking over at the duel-haired man and quirking a brow, "You didn't even try did you?"

"No."

Ray's head poked around the other man's profile and shot her a smile, "Kai was our team captain for so long for a reason, Mykie. He's always made the basics look more advanced than they are."

Mykie shrugged in reply before tentatively moving out of her hiding place and making her way into the clearing before searching the bodies, a frown coming to her full lips as she found a series of papers on one of them. She ignored as Kai and Ray stopped just behind her, her eyes narrowing. "Looks like they knew we were going to be here…or at least had an idea that someone was going to be scouring the island searching for the key."

"How?" Kai scowled deeply, "No one knew we were coming for it."

"That's what's weird," the treasure hunter replied with a scowl of her own before reaching for the walkie talkie at her belt and pressing the receiver, "Sully, come in." She waited a few moments before repeating herself once more. After a moment there was nothing but static from the device and she frowned deeply at it before turning her eyes to the two men, "The only thing I can think of is if they happened upon our frequency, but even then it doesn't explain _this_." She gestured to the paper in her hands, allowing for the Russian to take it from her. "They're orders, obviously, but out of all the other treasure hunters and collectors good or otherwise that I've run into over the years – none of them have the initials V.H…except one, but he died years ago."

Kai nodded mutely, his brow furrowed tightly as his lips twitched into a frown. It certainly was puzzling, but unfortunately they didn't have time to dwell on the odd missive as shouts were heard and suddenly the clearing was a battlefield. Kai had felt himself getting knocked to the ground behind the large rock in the clearing, looking up and finding Ray next to him, his pupils dilated and his body tense, meanwhile Mykie was reloading the .49mm she had stolen off of the first guard by the waterfall. She quickly moved, using the rock as a cover and lining up her shots with such precision, Kai was surprised she hadn't been shot as bullets hit the rock. Frowning deeply, he turned his attention to Ray and gestured to the blade in the other male's hand and thankfully the Neko-jin interpreted his message clearly and quickly released the blade from its launcher once more. Kai then reached up to where Mykie was still firing, pulling her down sharply as bullets shot overhead once more.

"What the hell -!?"

"Watch it would you?" Kai snorted in reply before grabbing the MP40 from where she had dropped it a moment before, "As much as I'd like to get off this island as fast as possible, I'd rather do it without getting shot."

Mykie rolled her eyes, "Get in line."

Kai glared at her before cocking the gun and quickly taking aim over the rock, the gun resting easily against his shoulder and with practiced ease. He ignored the looks of both surprise and shock that registered on the treasure hunter and Neko-jin's face respectfully before tightening his finger on the trigger. Mykie shook off her thoughts before joining the Russian in firing at the mercenaries before tugging him down as another rain of bullets ricocheted off of the rock. Running her hand along her belt she tugged a grenade free from the leather and quickly pulled the pin, tossing it behind her with a quick glance and ducking back down. As a resounding boom echoed throughout the clearing, Mykie tugged on both Ray and Kai's shirts in an effort to direct them on where to move and the two men wasted no time in following her direction as they raced back through the underbrush in an effort to escape in the madness of the grenade blast. With all three adults panting, the treasure hunter turned her eyes just ahead and had to come to an abrupt halt, forcing both former champions to stop as well.

"What is it?"

Mykie ignored Ray's panted question and instead tried to calculate how steep the slope before them was and how far it extended down the hill. "I suggest we keep going…we should be able to jump from the bottom since there's a cliff just ahead of us." She informed them quickly, her own words coming out in pants.

"Are you kidding?" Kai frowned, "We have absolutely no way in knowing what's at the end of that jump!"

"Well it sure as hell beats standing here arguing about it."

Ray rolled his eyes as the two erupted into their now routine bickering, "I'm actually with Mykie on this one, Kai." When the Russian shot him a somewhat betrayed look the Neko-jin shook his head, "Look, I'd rather not jump into an unknown here either, but it sure beats getting shot at!" No sooner had the words left his mouth a volley of shots came from overhead and the three crouched in an effort to become smaller targets. "I say we go now and figure it out."

"Looks like we don't have that luxury guys…" Mykie drawled as she turned back to the muddy slope before them, her eyes darting along the draping tree line that framed the incline and soon she found what she was looking for: a tree towards the bottom that had come loose form it's mooring either from rain or from erosion and was slanted across the top of the canopy. Glancing around once more, she noticed a series of old ropes next to the ruins of some old barrels and raced over to them, "Here, hold this for a minute." She quickly went back, after tossing the ropes to Kai, to grab a few different sizes of debris from the pile of rubble in hopes of finding something she could use to anchor them from the fallen tree.

"Drake, these things are easily seven hundred years old…they're not gonna hold us."

Shooting a quick glance at the Russian, she quirked a brow. "Well, you better hope they do because there's no other way out of this unless you wanna chance the drop down to the ravine."

"Point _very well_ taken," Kai acquiesced quickly before handing the ropes back to the treasure hunter and watching as she shot them both a quick look before taking a running jump and allowing the momentum to pull her down the mud-slicked slope. The two men, sharing a brief look of uncertainty, followed just a moment afterwards and just missed the hail of bullets that had been aimed at them.

Mykie dug her boots into the side of the slope as she slid in an effort to control how fast she was going and she began readying the near-ancient rope in her hands by knotting it and tying as many of the debris together in as much of a bundle as she could. Mykie had tried a lot of things in her life, but never once did she think she was going to try and defy the very sense of reality. But the reality of not taking the shot was worse than not taking the shot at survival at all. She could easily hear the two former champions sliding behind her, the evidence of curses and swatting at the lower hanging brush alerting her to how far behind they were and she knew her timing would have to be impeccable if they were to make this jump. Nearly holding her breath she began swinging the bundle of debris in an effort to gain as much momentum as possible and as she was just about under the tree she let it fly, nearly letting out a cry of triumph when the bundle found purchase twice around the trees girth and twisting around itself. Allowing her momentum to carry her into the swing she held her breath as she swung over the ravine and closer to the cliff side where a ledge protruded just enough to allow her and her two companions to stand on. There was a brief moment where her heart stopped as she let go of the rope and reached for the ledge only to cough and gasp as her body slammed into the protruding rock face and knocking whatever wind she had out of her body. Regaining her breath was much harder than she had wanted and after a moment she hauled her body onto the ledge just in time to see Ray make the jump and assist him onto the ledge. It was, however, when Kai made the jump that a sickening cracking sound alerted them to the tree giving way and with Kai still barely in midair the Neko-jin could only bite down as Kai flew towards the ravine instead of the cliff.

"He didn't get enough momentum!"

Mykie dove forward, her torso sliding across the dirt and rocks and grabbed at his arm, immediately finding purchase thanks to the gloves the both of them were wearing as well as the longer sleeved shirt that Kai had chosen that day. Ray sighed in relief, having grabbed the treasure hunter's belt in an almost knee-jerk reaction to her sliding along the cliff to grab Kai, his body sagging against the rock wall as Mykie managed to pull his friend to safety.

"I can't believe we just did that."

The treasure hunter sighed, "Yeah, but we're not exactly out of the woods just yet…we still have to get down before they find a way to follow us."

"Agreed."

The three, after regaining their breath, began making their way down the rock face mindful of the fact that the mercenaries could show back up at any time. Mykie didn't doubt that they'd appear sooner or later, but if they could make it half way down first then she would feel much better. Unfortunately, luck was certainly not on their side that day and the mercenaries appeared much sooner than the treasure hunter had hoped and she turned sharply from where she was anchored against the ledge and pulled out the now stolen .49mm. "Keep going!"

"Are you serious?" Ray questioned incredulously with a roll of his eyes, " _HOW_!?"

"I don't know just keep moving," was Kai's gruff rebuttal as he began climbing down faster, his fingers finding purchase in places against the cliff wall he wasn't sure was completely possible, but with adrenaline pumping as much as it was he knew not to question it. The three quickly made their way down the cliff face, Mykie shooting periodically and cursing when she missed or a mercenary shot too close to where she was hanging off of the wall. A loud curse brought Kai's attention as she dropped suddenly, using a knife she had at her hip to slow her descent and to regain her hold on the wall; it only took him a moment to notice the blood now pumping from her hand and it didn't take him much to guess that they had managed to shoot the hand that had been anchoring her to the wall. Chancing a glance down at the ravine he noticed that the jump they had was still far, but survivable if they aimed correctly. "We should jump while we've got the chance!"

Mykie chanced a look down to the water filled ravine below them before nodding her affirmation to the Russian, "Get as close as you can get to the water and make sure you clear those rocks. I'll do what I can to cover you guys as long as I can."

"Yeah, and how do you plan to do that with one hand?"

The treasure hunter glared up at Ray, her good hand holding the knife she was using to anchor herself and her other hand clenched tightly in an effort to stem the blood flow. Glancing down at her predicament she sighed knowing that while the Neko-jin was right, she had to do what she could to ensure their safety no matter what happened and with the men above attempting to move into different positions in order to hit them she knew she had limited time to come up with a solution. Mykie had never been in a situation quite like this before, but she was vaguely reminded of the time she and Sully had attempted to find the true burial sight of Caesar. That had turned into an absolute mess and she shook her head to dislodge the thoughts completely as the two treasure hunters had barely made it out of that mess. Reaching into her bag she removed a handkerchief she tended to keep just in case and she quickly palmed it while grabbing the .49mm in an effort to get a better grip on the weapon and while she knew it was going to hurt just to shoot, she realized she didn't have much of a choice.

"Let me worry about that," she answered finally with a grunt, "just get moving so I don't have to do this forever will ya?" After a quick look above her where the two men were beginning their climb down she called up to them, "Guys, there's a ledge to the left of you. You should be able to use it to inch your way down. If you're careful you both should be able to shimmy down it."

Kai glanced at the ledge she was referring to and looked down at her, "You think it'll hold us?"

"If you're careful," She affirmed before adjusting her hold and looking around the tree line behind them, "You may want to hurry though, I'm sure our friends are going to be back soon and I'd rather not be hanging on this wall when they do."

The two men nodded to one another before setting off for the ledge that she had specified, moving as quickly as they could across the wall that neither of them had experience climbing, the two relying strictly on their previously built muscles. Kai would never admit it out loud, but he was both impressed and envious of the smaller woman's ability to merely hang on the side of the wall and hold herself in place despite the fact she had quite literally been shot off of the rock face. His reflexes were good, but hers were on a completely different level of development and he was angry with his earlier assessment of her being so scrawny and even weak because she clearly had a strength to her that neither he or Ray had used since they were teenagers at least. Shaking these thoughts from his mind he refocused on pulling himself onto the ledge, finding it to be much smaller than he had hoped and realizing that he would have to lean back into the wall just to keep his balance. He waited a moment in order to fully find his placement on the wall before reaching down to help Ray onto the ledge and after a moment he looked down to see that Mykie was bracing herself on a ledge with her forearm while she attempted to unlatch her knife from the rocky earth and after a moment she managed to dislodge it before resuming her climb, but instead of making her way towards them she began scaling sideways, always seemingly mindful of her hand. He almost jumped when he heard the sound of semi-automatics firing once more and nodded to Ray to hurry up his body easing as he heard the easy shots coming from the handgun that Mykie was using. It was when the shots rained right over his and Ray's head that he immediately looked down to the ravine to see how much further he and the Neko-jin could go before they could jump and after another heart stopping moment, he heard Mykie cry out.

"You have to jump now!"

Ray scoffed loudly, "Are you insane!? We'll never make it!"

"You don't have a choice!" She all but snarled as she curled into rock wall in an attempt to make herself as small a target as possible as the shots they had heard moments before had been aimed at her and she had nearly fallen off of the wall once again. "I can't keep hold and cover for you guys in the meantime. You _need to jump_!"

"What do you think?" The Neko-jin turned his attention to Kai, his eyes searching his old teammate's in hope of some kind of agreement. "You think we can do it?"

"Oh we can do it, sure." Kai agreed after a moment before he and Ray were forced to duck again as another hail of bullets flew overhead, "just make sure you push out far enough so you don't hit the rocks…"

"Yeah, that'll be a miracle if we miss them."

"We don't have a choice here, Ray."

"I know…" Ray all but groaned before sighing deeply, "Alright, we do it. But are we sure it'll be deep enough? For all we know it's a small stream."

"Any time you guys are ready!"

Kai and Ray both shot the treasure hunter a dirty look as her alto, heavily laden with sarcasm, floated up to them before watching as she fired two more shots, the gun clicking to show the clip was empty and tossing the gun to the side. After glancing back up at them and readjusting herself she pushed off of the wall and allowed gravity to take her. Making her body as smooth as possible she tucked her arms to her sides tightly and pointed her feet, allowing the water below to envelope her as much as possible. A moment later she heard two other objects hit the water and as her body finally stopped falling she pushed herself up towards the surface, her lungs expanding immediately with the need for air and she glanced around. She didn't have to wait long for Kai to surface and he sputtered for a moment, brushing the strands of his hair from his face and glancing around.

"Where's Ray?"

"I don't know."

Glancing around the water where they jumped she looked once more and noticed bubbles surfacing from the side and with a deep breath and ignoring whatever Kai had started to say she dove right back under the water in an effort to find the Neko-jin. Kai moved into the same direction, his eyes scanning for the two of them below him and after a few minutes of bated breath, the treasure hunter resurfaced with a barely conscious Neko-jin and he immediately moved to take the man's weight, noticing that the smaller woman was struggling despite the weightlessness of the water around them. Without words the two decided to move to the opposite side of the ravine in order to avoid getting shot at again.

"We'll move further downstream this way we have less of a chance of being found. Hopefully they think we drowned."

Kai didn't reply, annoyed by her seeming uncaring attitude and made to reply but a sharp look from the treasure hunter stopped his words from leaving his lips. Instead he settled for an annoyed huff as he followed after her. The swim was short and much faster than he had anticipated, the treasure hunter immediately turning and taking the unresponsive Neko-jin from him and he watched as she practically rushed him to shore before beginning to look him over. He immediately moved over to her, watching as she had her head pressed against his chest and after a moment she began what his brain sluggishly recognized as CPR, the woman cursing the unconscious man as she did.

"Be ready to flip him on his side," She told the Russian tersely when she finally noticed him by her side. "Come on, Ray!" After another press to his sternum, Ray's eyes snapped opened and he immediately began coughing up water, the Russian doing as instructed and flipping the man on his side so he could expel the water and not choke on it. Mykie sat back, her body slumping with the tension finally leaving her body. She allowed Kai and make sure his teammate was okay in privacy as she made her way back to the water and removing the cloth that had been around her wounded hand. With a wince she turned the appendage over to see the full extent of the damage and frowned when she realized that the bullet hadn't gone all the way through her hand. Resigning herself to the fact that she would have to get the bullet out before anything else she reached into her bag and withdrew the lighter from within, flicking the track for the lighter to make sure it still worked despite the possible water damage. Happy to find that the lighter still worked she withdrew her knife and began waving the lighter underneath the blade to sanitize it from any germs that had accumulated on its surface from where she had used it to stop her fall earlier.

"Jesus, why does my chest hurt?"

"We had to revive you," Kai answered as he sat back on his heels, running a hand through his wet hair and slicking it away from his face with a sigh. "How'd that even happen?"

"I thought I was clear, but on the way down my leg bent and I hit the water."

Kai shook his head, "Well I'm glad you're okay for the most part."

"For the most part," Ray agreed. "I'm just trying to get my head around the almost dying part…that out of body experience wasn't really the highlight of my adult life that's for sure."

"I'd have to agree with you…it doesn't sound all that fun."

"I don't recommend it. But I know I did something, I'm just trying to make sure I can breathe without my chest screaming at me."

"Yeah you keep doing that. I'm gonna make sure we're all still together for the most part."

After making sure Ray was alright he turned his attention to the only female of their group to see she had just set the lighter back into her pouch/bag (he honestly had no idea what to truly call it as it resembled a pouch that rested against her leg from a series of belts, but was as deep as a small bag) and was focusing intently on her hand, waving the knife lightly as if to cool it before resting it at the opening of her wound. He watched in gross fascination as she dug the bullet out of her hand before plunging it back into the water and relaxing her shoulders when she seemed to finally remove it, the knife suddenly forgotten next to her. Sighing she removed her first layer of shirts and leaving her in fitted tank, ripping the thin fabric of her other shirt into strips and wrapping her hand in at least two long strips before making her way back to Ray's side, ignoring the Russian for the moment and looking the Neko-jin over.

"Where did you hit?"

"I didn't –."

She leveled him with a deadpanned look, "Seriously?"

"My leg," Ray finally sighed after the small stare-off where the Neko-jin had stubbornly set his jaw. With another look, Mykie set to checking out the man's leg and frowning softly as she looked the appendage over. "Ow! Would you quit doing that!?" She met his angry eyes and frowned, her fingers still poised where they had just been gently probing his leg.

"Well your leg is definitely in bad shape." Turning her attention to Kai she frowned, "We have to get out of here _now_. I don't know exactly what's wrong with his leg, but I doubt he'll be able to walk on it. Let's keep heading towards the edge of the island an–"

"And how do we know which way to go?"

Ignoring the curt tone the Russian had used she unlatched her watch from her wrist and tossed it to him, "It's also a compass." She deadpanned, "You head in a direction in either direction and keep going forwards you'll eventually hit a beach…kinda the benefit of being stranded on an island." Kai rolled his eyes at her rambling, a habit he noticed she had when she was annoyed or tired and in this case it was probably a combination of both.

After a moment of silence, Ray cleared his throat, "So where are we now?"

Mykie turned her attention to Ray, who had since allowed her to begin wrapping his leg with the extra strips she had made from her shirt, "We seem to be on the southern side of the island and we originally came in from the east, so hopefully I'll be able to reach Sully and he can find us a pick up point. In the meantime," she directed towards the Russian, "try and stabilize his leg." Pushing herself up off of her knees she reached to her belt to grab the walkie talkie and began flipping through channels suddenly she came across a channel with chatter and she paused.

" _Spread out across the island! They have to be out there somewhere and I will_ not _report back to the boss unless I see Drake or that Hiwatari bastard's bodies or confirmation that they're gone! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!_ "

Turning to look at the two men she held the device away from her slightly, "Looks like it's not just _me_ they're out here looking for hot shot."

Kai rolled his eyes as he finished bracing Ray's leg and standing, "Likely your fault."

"Oh yeah, totally my fault," she rolled her eyes before scanning through the channels once again and finding Sully's voice who clearly was about ready to lose his marbles. "Sully can you read me?"

" _Jesus Christmas kid I was gonna come down there and see what the hell was taking so long myself if you didn't answer! Now what the hell is going on!? There're goons everywhere!_ "

"Yeah tell me something I don't know," She sighed, "Listen we're on the southern most part of the island. Feel like swinging by and picking us kids up from school?"

" _Your sarcasm is both lovely to hear and pissing me off._ "

"I aim to please."

After a moment Sully sighed over the walkie, " _Alright kid. Southern most part of the island right? Good news is that's not too far from me. The bad news is: that's the densest part of the island so you're gonna have to make some noise_."

"Noise?"

Mykie ignored Ray's question before pressing in on the device once more, "You've obviously had a lot of time on your hands."

" _Yeah, took a nice scenic stroll around the island and that's when I noticed our little friends coming in from the south._ "

"Alright Sully, I'll do what I can to make a signal enough for you to see."

" _I'll get the_ Maria _'s engine up and going nice and hot for ya in the meantime._ "

"And hey be careful, yeah? These goons are everywhere."

" _No shit,_ _ **I**_ _told you that._ " He cried in exasperation before sighing," _You guys be careful down there…you're heading right into a hornet's nest._ "

Mykie didn't answer as she put her walkie away and turned to the two former bladers to see that during her conversation with Sully, Kai had gotten Ray into as much a standing position as the Neko-jin could manage. "I hate to do this to you guys, but we're gonna have to work fast and we're gonna have to be as quiet about it as possible."

"Oh yeah…sounds easy," Ray nodded, sarcasm dripping from his tenor, "I just can't walk, it'll be fine though."

"Look I know how it sounds, but if you want to make it out of this alive, I highly suggest you take my advice. The less detected we are going forward the better…at least until I have to make enough of a flare for Sully to find us."

"And how do you plan on doing that…exactly?"

"By blowing up their camp…or their supply cache…whatever comes up first in all honesty. I don't really know yet, but I'll figure it out as we go."

"You're insane."

"Yeah, well, we can argue that when we're all on the plane."

Without waiting for a response, Mykie began leading the way through the brush keeping her pace moderate so that Kai, who was helping Ray hobble along, could keep up. As time wore on they passed by at least three or four patrols and each one was taken out as swiftly as possible by the treasure hunter and she made quick work of searching them for any equipment she could use. By the time they reached the southern clearing she had acquired quite a bit of grenades and at least two full clips for the pistol she had stolen from one of the guards. She nearly sighed with relief when she noticed that the mercenaries had set up their weapons cache on the eastern most side of their camp. Glancing around she noticed the beach not too far off and she nodded to both Ray and Kai to start making their way as close to the area as possible, meanwhile she darted from the underbrush and to the stack of crates that had been left to frame the perimeter of the small camp.

"I want them found. NOW! I will not tolerate another mistake and neither will our employer. I want you to get out there now and find those _sürtüklerin oğullari_!"

Mykie's brow furrowed as she recognized the voice and chancing a glance over the crates she cursed as she noticed Zeynap pacing in front of one of the tents, her once prettily made up appearance exchanged for mercenary fatigues, though she was not absent her large and expensive statement necklaces. The treasure hunter nearly rolled her eyes. Zeynap had never been cut out for field work and she normally didn't get her hands dirty so to see her on the island of all places was extremely odd to the mauve-haired woman.

"We're looking boss."

"Well you're not looking hard enough!" Zeynap snapped shrilly, "The last time Drake waltzed into my office we lost out on the El Dorado find. That bitch conned me and I _will not be made a fool of_! Get out there and hit that forest harder! You know what our employer will do if she and that Hiwatari bastard are not found."

"Yes ma'am, I understand."

"Then see to it that it's done."

Shaking her thoughts, she began creeping throughout the camp and she grinned as she suddenly found a long cable. Still in hiding she began to weave the cable through the pins in the grenades before fixing them to the other explosives she had found in the cache. She knew that as soon as she pulled the cable the entire area would be enveloped in chaos, but she knew she had no other choice if she wanted to get the two bladers off of the island.

"Shit!" She cursed quietly as she noticed the cable was too short for her to hide in the brush and pull her makeshift bomb. Glancing around she knew that she was going to have to time this perfectly if she wanted to make it out alive. Resigning herself to her new fate she yanked on the cable as soon as a few of the lingering guards came near the cache and she ran as if the devil himself were on her heels. In the moment it took the one guard to notice her and call out a warning the cache blew and took him and the other guards with him and knocking the small woman right off of her feet. Groaning, Mykie realized almost too late that the area had quickly descended into a war zone and she gripped the pistol tightly, firing at anyone who came too close to her before scrambling to her feet and making a run for cover. Snatching a few more grenades from the box in front of her she released the pin and threw the grenade, ducking down immediately and grunting as the blast shook the very earth. She barely heard Sully's biplane over the noise as she released another grenade into the clearing. Feeling a hand grab her shoulder she turned to throw a punch only to have her fist caught and vivid garnet eyes glaring into hers.

"Let's go! I already got Ray on the plane!" Nodding she pulled the pin of one last grenade before the two of them darted towards the beach. They didn't stop even as Kai grunted when he felt debris blow up on his one side and even when they heard the hail of bullets overhead once more. They all but fell into the plane, Kai pulling the lighter woman into the aircraft and snapping the doors shut, "GO!"

Sully needed no further encouragement and soon the plane was in the air and the chaos was quickly drowned out by the sound of propellers. Kai chanced a glance at Mykie to see she was panting, but alive and after a moment he flopped himself into a seat besides Ray, allowing his body to relax and alert him to all the aches and pains of the excursion. He ignored as the mauve-haired woman stood and made her way into the cockpit, telling Sully to head to the nearest hospital to treat Ray's injuries as he allowed himself to succumb to the adrenaline induced need to sleep.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hey there everyone! Sorry for the long wait for this update - not too sure who's reading or not anymore, but this story makes me happy so regardless I'm gonna keep updating and hope someone out there is enjoying it as much as I am writing it - work for me has been insane lately (I work in an animal hospital so hours are extremely long and tiring). Regardless, here is the long awaited end to our first leg of the journey. Hopefully with the more action I add the more you'll all enjoy it! Things from here on out are gonna move a bit more fluidly and just so you all know I will be making a sequel to this story - that's still in the outlining stages though as I want to make sure I finish this one completely.

If you've been on my profile recently you'll notice all of my other stories are on a semi-permanent hiatus particularly because I've either lost inspiration for them or - and the more legitimate reason - the stories went down with my original computer so everything I had written and/or planned has disappeared with it (something I've rectified by keeping notebooks handy so this doesn't happen again). I'm sorry if you're fans of the other material and I promise I'll return to them eventually, but for now this will be the primary story ripe for updating. I thank you all for your continued support and I hope to see you in the next chapter as well!

As always, reviews are lovely and much appreciated but in no way, shape or form are they mandatory for an update - though they would certainly help me update a bit faster ;). I hope you all enjoy the rest of your labor day and have a wonderful week!

Much love,  
Eirlys


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